A kind of annoying story
from a guy who recently went to China expecting to be wildly amazed by what Tiananmen square had to offer, only to find
it a rather boring “slab of concrete”. Expecting to see something akin to Red Square in Moscow, he gets there on a grey
day (I understand because of pollution almost every day is grey…or brown), and finds little to do but wander around and
complain. Now, I don’t doubt his description, but a friend of mine just returned from Beijing and said it was a
marvelous place. So I’m not sure who to believe. But the piece here at least sprinkles in a dose of history and
factoids, so it’s worth a look.
PolarHusky.com
It’s been a while since I last visited this
site about North Pole expeditions, so I thought I’d call it out again. It is very deserving of praise and
clicks. The site is filled with stunning imagery,
videos,
expedition details, and discussion of ANWR,
which is much in the news right now. The site has been designed as a sort of online classroom to help kids
and adults better understand Arctic issues, including the matter of drilling at ANWR, global climate change and
indigenous cultures of the Arctic.
World in the Balance
The people that want to shut down or curtail the funding of public television are crazy. Nutso.
Downright stupid. And if this applies to you, feel free to comment and explain yourself, but be ready to be mocked. I
wake up some days and thank the sky for public television. Shows like Nova
and Frontline are pretty much the finest stuff we have on TV
when it comes to using the boob tube as a device to inform.
Case in point: a series out last year on public television called
Life in the Balance. The program examines the effects of
population pressure and rapid industrial growth, and ponders where all this is going? To some awful Malthusian
nightmare where we’ll be eating each other like Soylent Green? Or are humans ingenious enough to figure their way out
of potential doom? These are huge questions worth examination…examination the way only public television can do.
The People Paradox will air on June 14 at 8 pm, and China Revs Up on June 21 at 8 pm.
China Journey: End Note
Last year NPR ran a
fantastic radio series on traveling in
China. The series writer Bob Gifford traveled across the country to bring the changes happening there to light. Near
the end of his 3,000-mile journey, on the western side of the Gobi Desert, he found the
unexpected: a bowling alley. The alley is a symbol of the regional capital’s new middle class, and of
the new standard of living that many Chinese now realize as part of their daily lives. It’s a fascinating story,
kepping in theme with some of our other posts today.
Dogtown and Peralta on NPR
Did anyone out there see Dogtown and
Z-Boys? I did. I loved it. The film captured the flavor of the California skate culture like no other film. And it
was also just a beautiful film to watch. I grew up in So Cal, so these guys were legends to me.
So if you enjoyed that film as much as I did, then you probably also know that Stacey Peralta, who
directed the documentary, has a new film out based on the doc
called Lords of Dogtown. Again, it’s all
about the surf and skate culture of California in the 1970s with a special emphasis on places like Venice Beach which
are known for their ample sidewalks and the “we can give a shit” attitude of the locals. If you’re a fan of
Peralta and his partner Catherine Hardwicke, you’ll probably enjoy listening
to this NPR interview with them.