June 18, 2016

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Sports June 18, 2016

Tampa Bay Rays Honor Orlando Victims, Draw Biggest Regular-Season Crowd In 10 Years

Tampa Bay Rays players wear "We Are Orlando" T-shirts, to honor the victims of the Orlando mass shooting, as they warm up before a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants last Friday.

Tampa Bay Rays players wear “We Are Orlando” T-shirts, to honor the victims of the Orlando mass shooting, as they warm up before a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants last Friday. Chris O’Meara/AP hide caption

toggle caption Chris O’Meara/AP

Tampa Bay Rays may have been beaten 5-1 by the San Francisco Giants, but Friday night was nonetheless a winning one for the Florida-based team, which celebrated its annual Pride Night, dedicating it to the victims of Sunday’s mass shooting at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub.

Pride Night saw the biggest regular-season crowd at Tropicana Field in a decade. According to the Associated Press, “the announced attendance of 40,135 was the first regular-season turnout to surpass 40,000 at the Rays’ ballpark since opening day in 2006 against Baltimore.” That crowd was 40,199.

Prior to the night’s game, the Rays were averaging 16,037 in home attendance this season, second-lowest in the majors.

“The crowd was big, that’s for sure,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said.

Tonight’s pregame presentation included this memorial to the Pulse Victims. #WeAreOrlandohttps://t.co/66hPKSDlAX

— #VoteRays (@RaysBaseball) June 17, 2016

The Rays had priced all available tickets for Friday night at $5, and all proceeds will benefit Pulse Victims Fund. They also promised game attendees “We Are Orlando” T-shirts on entering the gates.

The team raised more than $300,000.

“I saw we raised so much money. That’s great for all of the tragedy that’s taken place over there over the last week,” manager Cash said.

Members of the Rays wore “We are Orlando” T-shirts during batting practice and for the game, donned special-ordered throwback hats — a “reprise” of the old minor league Orlando Rays’ look.

Major League Baseball’s Vice President of Social Responsibility & Inclusion Billy Bean threw the ceremonial first pitch.

“I think today will be just a great moment if baseball can make everybody smile, enjoy a great baseball game, feel a little closer to one another,” he said of the event. “It’s not specific to one person or another, or race or gender or color or sexual orientation or gender identity. It’s about people feeling connected and supportive.”

The event also featured a moment of silence and a pregame tribute video to the victims from both teams played on the scoreboard.

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Entertainment June 18, 2016

Today in Movie Culture: The Evolution of Pixar, 'Star Wars' Drunk Driving PSA and More

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

Movie Review of the Day:

You won’t find a more amusing take on the new Pixar sequel Finding Dory than this review for The Onion:

[embedded content]

Reimagined Movie of the Day:

Regardless of whether or not the George R.R. Martin thing makes sense, this bloody, scarier version of Finding Dory is pretty well done (via Reddit):

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Limited Edition Poster of the Day:

Check out Andy Fairhurst’s latest beautiful Disney movie art, this one for Finding Dory, for a special Regal Cinemas giveaway (via Geek Tyrant):

Studio History of the Day:

In honor of the release of Finding Dory, Burger Fiction presents the evolution of Pixar:

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Video Essay of the Day:

Also in honor of Finding Dory, Frame by Frame explores the formula to how Disney “gives us all the feels”:

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Cosplay of the Day:

The following tweet featuring Ghostbusters director Paul Feig and star Melissa McCarthy says it all but doesn’t quite show them all (via Paul Feig):

.@paulfeig & @melissamccarthy posed with the largest number of people dressed as ghosts in Singapore. #Ghostbusters pic.twitter.com/QhPRFTdgkQ

— Empire Movies (@Empire_Movies) June 16, 2016

PSA of the Day:

An old anti drunk driving PSA gets brilliantly reworked with footage from the Star Wars movies (via Geekologie):

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Vintage Image of the Day:

David Lynch directs Isabella Rossellini, who turns 64 today, for a scene in Blue Velvet in 1985:

Supercut of the Day:

We close out the week with another necessary video tribute to LGBT cinema, this one from ScreenCrush:

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Classic Trailer of the Day:

This weekend marks the 30th anniversary of the release of The Karate Kid, Part II. Watch the original trailer for the sequel below.

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and

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Health June 18, 2016

Canada Legalizes Physician-Assisted Dying

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, shown here in Japan last month, has publicly backed legislation on physician-assisted suicide.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, shown here in Japan last month, has publicly backed legislation on physician-assisted suicide. Koji Ueda/AP hide caption

toggle caption Koji Ueda/AP

After weeks of debate, Canadian lawmakers have passed legislation to legalize physician-assisted death.

That makes Canada “one of the few nations where doctors can legally help sick people die,” as Reuters reports.

The new law “limits the option to the incurably ill, requires medical approval and mandates a 15-day waiting period,” as The Two-Way has reported.

The Canadian government introduced the bill in April and it passed a final Senate vote Friday. It includes strict criteria that patients must meet to obtain a doctor’s help in dying. As we have reported, a patient must:

  • “Be eligible for government-funded health care (a requirement limiting assisted suicides to Canadians and permanent residents, to prevent suicide tourism).”
  • “Be a mentally competent adult 18 or older.”
  • “Have a serious and incurable disease, illness or disability.”
  • “Be in an ‘advanced state of irreversible decline,’ with enduring and intolerable suffering.”

As a safeguard, the law also requires that two independent witnesses be present when the patient signs a request for a doctor-assisted death.

A headed debate emerged over whether to require patients to prove that their “natural death has become reasonably foreseeable,” as the law reads.

Some lawmakers wanted to broader eligibility criteria that would include degenerative diseases, Reuters reports. “The key amendment that senators had been pushing for was to broaden the criteria for who qualifies for assisted dying,” reporter Dan Karpenchuk tells our Newscast unit. “They had insisted that it includes suffering Canadians who are not close to death.”

Ultimately, the senators dropped the amendment and adopted the bill with the more restrictive language – but Dan says the law will likely be challenged in courts. He adds:

“Some senators say [the law] is immoral, adding that there could be people facing years of excruciating suffering, but not yet close to death. And in launching expensive legal challenges many who are desperately ill and their families could go broke from court cases to determine if they have the right to an assisted death.”

Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould had opposed the broader criteria, arguing that it would mean that patients with “any serious medical condition, whether it be a soldier with PTSD, a young person with a spinal cord injury, or a survivor whose memory is haunted with memories of sexual abuse” could be eligible for a physician-assisted death, as CBC reports.

After the legislation was passed, Wilson-Raybould said in a statement with the Attorney General and Minister of Health that it “strikes the right balance between personal autonomy for those seeking access to medically assisted dying and protecting the vulnerable.”

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had backed the legislation, which was introduced after Canada’s Supreme Court struck down a ban on doctor-assisted suicide last year.

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Business June 18, 2016

As Led Zeppelin Faces Copyright Charges, The Line Between Plagiarism And Homage

Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant and Jimmy Page were in court this week answering charges of copyright infringement. Forensic musicologist Joe Bennett and NPR’s Scott Simon discuss.

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

“Stairway To Heaven,” 1971 – you don’t need to hear it again – one of the most recognizable songs in rock history. And this week, a court in California’s been hearing a copyright infringement lawsuit that claims the song is more than just inspired by a previous song called “Taurus” that was released three years earlier by the band Spirit. Now, this lawsuit is brought by a trust that’s acting in behalf of the late Randy Wolfe. He was a founding member of Spirit. They played on the same bill as Led Zeppelin in 1968. We’re going to go now to Joe Bennett, a forensic musicologist and vice president of academic affairs at the Boston Conservatory. And he joins us over Skype. Mr. Bennett, thanks so much for being with us.

JOE BENNETT: Good to speak with you.

SIMON: So how’s that sound to you?

BENNETT: Well, there are certainly some objective factual similarities. The thing that’s been most discussed in recent days is that chromatic descending bass line. So just to recap, here’s “Stairway” that everybody knows.

(SOUNDBITE OF LED ZEPPELIN SONG, “STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN”)

BENNETT: So underneath those high arpeggios, you’ve got this descending note line.

(SOUNDBITE OF LED ZEPPELIN SONG, “STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN”)

BENNETT: So five notes. And then you hear those five notes in the context of “Taurus,” and they sound like this.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPIRIT SONG, “TAURUS”)

BENNETT: So the question becomes how original is that idea?

(SOUNDBITE OF SPIRIT SONG, “TAURUS”)

SIMON: Yeah, well, that’s why we’re calling you (laughter).

BENNETT: Indeed (laughter).

SIMON: You’re a musicologist, right? Does it – did – is – did those notes first get revealed to the world in 1968 or what?

BENNETT: Well, there’s quite a lot of evidence that they appeared substantially before that. Some people suggest that they were composed as early as the 1600s by a composer called Giovanni Battista Granata. There’s a melody that emerges about 30 seconds into one of his works that actually sounds more similar to “Stairway To Heaven” than to “Taurus.”

(SOUNDBITE OF GIOVANNI BATTISTA GRANATA PIECE “SONATA DI CHITTARRA”

BENNETT: We can certainly say that they appear in “My Funny Valentine” in 1937. So if I played that song in A minor, so same key, (singing) my funny valentine, sweet comic valentine, you make me smile. So you got that same idea going on, that chromatic descending bass line with a minor chord on top.

SIMON: Are these things theft or inspiration? Are they a homages?

BENNETT: This is why each case is different and why there is always a discussion to be had. And in popular music, there are so many ideas that are very commonly used. These ideas can be freely copied between songwriters. They’re not considered plagiarism. An obvious example would be chord loops. So one of the most famous chord loops is C, G, A minor and F.

(SOUNDBITE OF GUITAR MUSIC)

BENNETT: There’s so many songs that could be. 1987, U2’s “With Or Without You.” (Singing) With or without you. With or without you, oh. And so on. Or John Denver, 1971. (Singing) Take me home, country roads, to the place I belong. And there’s…

SIMON: Excuse me, there is nothing funnier than a British man singing – take me home to West Virginia.

BENNETT: Country roads. West Virginia, mountain mama (laughter).

SIMON: I think – this has got nothing to do with what we’re talking about – you do a really wonderful version of “Funny Valentine.” Could we go out on that?

BENNETT: Sure (laughter). It might be quite fun to try and play “Stairway To Heaven” under “My Funny Valentine” melody.

SIMON: Sure.

BENNETT: (Singing) Oh, funny valentine, sweet, comic valentine, you make me smile with my heart.

SIMON: Chet Baker couldn’t have done better than that.

BENNETT: That’s great to hear. Thank you very much.

SIMON: Joe Bennett, forensic musicologist at the Boston Conservatory. Thanks so much for being with us.

BENNETT: Thank you. It’s a pleasure.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “MY FUNNY VALENTINE”)

CHET BAKER: (Singing) My funny valentine, sweet, comic valentine.

SIMON: Maybe Chet Baker’s a little better. You’re listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I’m Scott Simon.

Copyright © 2016 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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