August 31, 2015

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Entertainment August 31, 2015

Today in Movie Culture: 'Superman Lives' Trailer, The Sound of 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' and More

Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:

Filmmaker Tribute of the Day:

In honor of Wes Craven, who died over the weekend, supercut master Jacob T. Swinney showcased the sounds of A Nightmare on Elm Street:

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Alternate Dimension Movie of the Day:

Inspired by the recent documentary The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened?, here’s a fan-made trailer for what Superman Lives might have looked like had Tim Burton been able to actually make it, with Nicolas Cage, Sandra Bullock and Kevin Spacey (via Geek Tyrant):

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Movie Mashup of the Day:

Vulture has remade the Suicide Squad trailer by turning it into a mashup with The Dirty Dozen (via /Film):

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Movie Retelling of the Day:

Here’s how Ancient Egyptians enjoyed the Avengers movies. They even had some coming attractions at the top (via Design Taxi):

Movie Prequel of the Day:

The final Guardians of the Galaxy origin story for the new animated series is for Gamora, but it also stars Nebula and Korath:

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Vintage Image of the Day:

Grab a drink and toast Ingrid Bergman, whose 100th birthday was this past Saturday. Here she is having one with Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca:

Classic Cartoon of the Day:

Another title for the classic Walt Disney animated short Pluto’s Judgment Day could be “Pluto Goes to Hell.” But that might not be as family friendly. Not that it won’t already give kids nightmares. Watch the cartoon, which turns 80 years old today, in full:

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Filmmaker in Focus:

The latest video essay from Jorge Luengo showcases the close-ups of Alfred Hitchcock movies:

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Star Wars of the Day:

This video puts the original Star Wars trilogy side by side with the prequels to prove the Star Wars Ring Theory, which says that the two parts of the franchise mirror one another (via Cinematic Montage Creators):

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Classic Trailer of the Day:

This week marks the 10th anniversary of the Venice Film Festival premiere of the iconic cowboy love story Brokeback Mountain, starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal. Watch the original trailer below.

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Business August 31, 2015

Uber Faces $300,000 Fine, Court Case From Philadelphia Regulators

Despite being declared illegal in the city, Uber has been operating in Philadelphia for 10 months.

Despite being declared illegal in the city, Uber has been operating in Philadelphia for 10 months. NPR hide caption

itoggle caption NPR

The ride-hailing service Uber has served more than 1 million customers in Philadelphia, despite operating under disputed terms for nearly a year. Now the city’s regulators are taking the company to court.

Uber says it doesn’t plan to stop operating in the city where it first launched service last October.

Last November, Pennsylvania’s Public Utility Commission went against the preliminary recommendation of two judges to grant Uber a two-year license in the state. Philadelphia’s regulators didn’t agree with that — and they’ve imposed a $1,000-a-day fine on Uber for operating in the city.

From Philadelphia, Bobby Allyn of member station WHYY reports for our Newscast desk:

“Uber is legal everywhere in Pennsylvania but Philadelphia, where authorities are calling the app-based taxi enterprise an ‘illegal hack cab company.’

“Vince Fenerty, who heads the Philadelphia Parking Authority, says the city has impounded dozens of Uber vehicles in undercover stings.

” ‘The cars are not inspected; the drivers are not vetted,’ he says. ‘We don’t know who’s driving the cars; the criminal histories have not been checked by any regulatory agency.’

An Uber spokesman says city regulators are trying to ‘protect an entrenched taxi system that doesn’t want to compete with change.’

“Uber says it plans to fight the $300,000 fine, which has accumulated since city officials have been trying to shut down the company for the past 10 months.”

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Health August 31, 2015

Some Veterans Affairs Reforms Undermine Medical Recruitment Efforts

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The Department of Veterans Affairs is suffering a shortfall of physicians, especially in mental health. A steady flow of scandals and attempts at strict reform by Congress may be hurting recruitment.

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

A 66-year-old Vietnam veteran drove to the parking lot of the VA Hospital in Bay Pines, Fla., last week and killed himself with a handgun. The very same day, the inspector general of the VA reported the department hasn’t done enough to recruit psychiatrists. And it’s not just mental health practitioners. The VA has a shortage of doctors and nurses across the board. NPR’s Quil Lawrence reports that some of the attempts to reform the department may be hurting recruitment.

QUIL LAWRENCE, BYLINE: VA Secretary Bob McDonald started visiting medical schools within days of taking the job last year. He’s reportedly given his cell number to med students and called them personally to pitch a job at the VA.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BOB MCDONALD: As you know, we’re recruiting. I’ve been to over a dozen medical schools myself, recruiting mental health professionals and primary care physicians. There’s a shortage in the country, but we’re making great progress.

LAWRENCE: That was McDonald speaking this month at a special field hearing of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee held in Gainesville, Ga.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MCDONALD: I’ve got gaps I’m trying to fill. I’m hiring 1,100 new doctors. I’m hiring 4,000 new nurses.

LAWRENCE: Congress passed a VA reform bill last year with funding for about 10,000 new hires. But Congress has also been trying to make it easier to fire VA staff. Firing someone with a federal government job can take months. Even the VA employees at the center of recent scandals have usually been transferred or put on paid leave instead. But singling out the VA that way, McDonald says, is hurting his recruitment drive.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MCDONALD: We can’t hire the people when members of Congress are going to somehow differentiate the VA versus other departments of government. That doesn’t cause people in government to want to work for the VA.

LAWRENCE: Georgia Republican Johnny Isakson was unconvinced.

JOHNNY ISAKSON: Not wanting to be treated differently is a good statement to make, and I understand that. I think it’s also critical to understand that we’ve had some unique problems within the VA that we need to find a way to deal with.

LAWRENCE: Isakson says the best way to get quality workers at VA is to fix what he called systemic failures at the department. Isakson supports a bill that would make it simple and quick to dismiss VA employees. That won’t make the VA attractive in a job market where hospitals are already competing for doctors and nurses, says Marilyn Park. She’s with the AFGE, a union that represents many VA employees.

MARILYN PARK: It’s scaring them off because if you’ve put all that time into training and you’re early on in your career, why would you go somewhere where you’re set up fail by Congress and the media looking for everything that’s a failure? I mean, I don’t know a health care system that hasn’t had problems, incidences that need to be reported and corrected.

LAWRENCE: The VA is pushing ahead with other ways to recruit, including partnerships with medical schools and a raise in the base pay for some doctors and dentists. So far, they’ve hired about 6,400 of the 10,000 positions Congress funded a year ago. Quil Lawrence, NPR News.

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Sports August 31, 2015

Brady, Goodell Don't Reach Deal; Judge Will Rule On 'Deflategate'

Courtroom artist Jane Rosenberg presents a more pleasant sketch of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brad. An earlier sketch of Brady by Rosenberg caused a sensation on Twitter and beyond.

Courtroom artist Jane Rosenberg presents a more pleasant sketch of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brad. An earlier sketch of Brady by Rosenberg caused a sensation on Twitter and beyond. New York Daily News/NY Daily News via Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption New York Daily News/NY Daily News via Getty Images

After a last-ditch effort to reach a settlement in the legal dispute over the NFL’s four-game suspension of quarterback Tom Brady, a federal judge says he’ll issue his ruling on Brady’s appeal on either Tuesday or Wednesday.

On Monday morning, Brady and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell attended discussions about a possible settlement. But after it became clear that the two sides don’t intend to give ground, District Judge Richard Berman held a brief hearing to announce that he’ll rule on the case early this week.

In another development, Jane Rosenberg, the courtroom sketch artist whose vision of Brady at an earlier appearance in Manhattan Federal Court sparked a flood of interest and commentary, issued a new sketch of the quarterback Monday. The earlier sketched sparked a slew of memes on Twitter.

The Brady Bunch by @Jeffalfonso pic.twitter.com/WqjyGW8R8B

— Only In Boston (@OnlyInBOS) August 12, 2015

Both Brady and the New England Patriots have insisted that they didn’t tamper with the inflation levels of footballs used in the AFC title game. In May, the NFL suspended the quarterback and levied a $1 million fine on his team, which also lost several draft picks.

From Boston’s member station WBUR, criminal law professor Robert Blecker writes today about the Patriots’ “false appearance of guilt” in the case.

Like others, Blecker notes that Brady’s punishment was doled out after the NFL-sponsored Wells report found “it is more probable than not that Tom Brady was at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities.”

“No eyewitnesses, and no real proof,” writes Blecker, who also says he isn’t a Patriots fan. “No matter. The league would manufacture it, and suspend the quarterback for being ‘generally aware’ of something that most likely never happened.”

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Entertainment August 31, 2015

Latitudes: The Music You Must Hear In August

Senegalese drum master Doudou N'Diaye Rose performing in Dakar in April 2013.

Senegalese drum master Doudou N’Diaye Rose performing in Dakar in April 2013. Seyllou/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Seyllou/AFP/Getty Images

We are sad to note the passing of Senegalese drum master Doudou N’Diaye Rose, who died in Dakar Aug. 19 at age 85. Named a “living human treasure” by UNESCO in 2006, Rose played with such American and British artists as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Peter Gabriel and the Rolling Stones. But more importantly, Rose sustained and nurtured local percussion traditions, particularly on the tall drum called the sabar. Our colleague Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, who is based in Dakar, has a longer appreciation. The joy Rose took in performing, and in sculpting large-scale performances, is palpable. Here’s a brief film the French site Mondomix made about him in 2009 in Fes, Morocco.

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Mondomix YouTube

Speaking of Senegal, but going to a much more meditative end of the spectrum, the kora player Seckou Keita has a really lovely new solo album called 22 Strings. (In many parts of West Africa, this plucked instrument has only 21 strings, but in northern Guinea and southern Senegal, where Keita is from, the instrument has one more.) Here’s a very beautiful piece from this album called “Mikhi Nathan Mu-Toma” (The Invisible Man), which Keita wrote about his father, who was absent from his life from the time he was very young.

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Seckou Keita YouTube

If you want to hear a really great Sinaloense brass band, your best bet these days might be to head to … Brooklyn. That’s where the Banda de los Muertos is based, and it’s helmed by two unlikely gents. Oscar Noriega is a jazz saxophonist and clarinetist best known as a sideman for folks like Lee Konitz and Paul Motian. Jacob Garchik is a trombonist whose work spans arranging for the Kronos Quartet to founding what he calls an “atheist gospel trombone choir.” In any case, their Mexican group masterfully performs a playful mix of traditional banda tunes and original songs.

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Valeria Trucchia-Noriega YouTube

Love to dance? The beat comes fast and hard on “Nachan Farrate” (Dance With Full Power), a Punjabi-flavored “item number” from the Bollywood summer movie All Is Well. Despite terrible reviews for the film — with its “indefensible” plot and “cliche gridlock” that “gets things wrong on so many levels” — “Nachan Farrate” is a total earworm of a tune, featuring singers Kanika Kapoor and the Meet Bros duo (and Sonakshi Sinha as the item girl).

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T-Series YouTube

Finally: one more African tune for your Labor Day cookout. It’s the lighthearted “Sweet Fanta Diallo (Adieu Soleil),” one of the biggest hits of this summer across West Africa and France. It’s from Magic System, a group from Ivory Coast that specializes in zouglou, a local genre that brings in elements of other styles, especially Caribbean ones like zouk and soca. (Don’t miss their even bigger 2014 summer song, “Magic in the Air,” with Moroccan singer Chawki.) Magic System’s “Sweet Fanta Diallo” is a cover of a song written by Alpha Blondy, another artist from Ivory Coast.

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Magic System YouTube

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