Santurom surge or primary “fauxmentum? Stolen documents reveal campaign against climate science. Renowned foreign correspondent Anthony Shadid dead at 43. KPCC film critics Tim Cogshell, Wade Major and Charles Solomon join Larry to review the week’s new film releases, including This Means War, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, The Secret World of Arrietty, Oscar Nominated Short Films: Documentary and more. TGI-FilmWeek! They do their own stunts.
Santorum surge or primary “fauxmentum?”
Rick Santorum’s three-state sweep last week shook up the republican race yesterday, casting doubt on front-runner and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney’s hold over the party’s core voting base. Santorum beat Ron Paul as well in Minnesota’s caucuses, placing Romney in third. He beat Romney in Colorado, as well. Santorum’s surprise surge claims four victories in the race, while Romney has three. Next up for the Republican nominees are the high-stakes primaries in Arizona and Michigan. But what does this all mean now?
Results from the past week suggest a persistent weakness for Romney’s campaign, but at the same time, Santorum’s new surge may fuel Romney in the battle for the nomination. A revived Santorum campaign could also mean that he and Gingrich will continue to divide the anti-Romney vote, leaving neither one with strong delegate counts.
Despite that, both Romney and Santorum are campaigning hard in Michigan ahead of the Feb. 28 primary. A new poll from Michigan shows both candidates are neck and neck. The leading GOP contenders were both put on the defensive with Santorum responding to attacks from Romney’s campaign on his fiscal conservatism and past support for organized labor; Romney also sought to defend his opposition to the federal bailout of General Motors.
WEIGH IN:
Will Romney’s campaign make a comeback? What about Ron Paul, who placed second in Minnesota? How will Santorum keep up his momentum? What do his recent victories mean? Gingrich is determined to win the conservative bloc. How does this affect the anti-Romney vote? Santorum has more campaign cash than any of the other candidates. Will this aid him in the upcoming primaries?
Guests:
Will Bunch, Senior Writer, Philadelphia Daily News
Dan Schnur, Director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California
Stolen documents reveal campaign against climate science
Papers leaked online this week appear to reveal how a conservative think tank works to disparage climate-change science. Memos show The Heartland Institute pays hundreds of thousands of dollars to prominent global-warming skeptics to support their work.
The libertarian, free-market think tank also contracted an Energy Department consultant to design a curriculum to teach students that scientific research into global warming is in dispute. Heartland has acknowledged that some of the documents were stolen, but insisted at least one memo was fake and others may have been altered.
The Associated Press confirmed some of the financial details by contacting consultants who had been paid or contracted by Heartland. The documents also reveal a plethora of Heartland donors, including R.J. Reynold's parent company Reynolds American, Microsoft, Comcast, Time Warner, General Motors Foundation and the Charles G. Koch Foundation.
Some of those organizations are now on the defensive. However, Heartland stands by its work. In a statement, it said: "Disagreement over the causes, consequences, and best policy responses to climate change runs deep. We understand that."
In scientific circles, there is very little disagreement over the existence of man-made climate change. A 2010 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that 97 percent of climate researchers actively publishing in the field support the tenets of anthropogenic climate change. The general public, however, is still doubtful.
WEIGH IN:
How should that fact affect school curriculum? Is there any difference in the fundraising and advocacy work of Heartland compared to groups with different politics, such as the Natural Resource Defense Council? Who should be able to influence school curriculum? How should the climate-change issue be approached in the classroom?
Guest:
Josh Rosenau, Programs and Policy Director, National Center for Science Education based in Oakland
Myron Ebell, Chairman, Cooler Heads Coalition, a group of climate-change skeptics including The Heartland Institute; Director of the Center on Energy and Environment, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Renowned foreign correspondent Anthony Shadid dead at 43
The world of journalism suffered a terrible loss yesterday. Anthony Shadid, one of the most respected journalists of his generation, died of an asthma attack while working in Syria.
"AirTalk" listeners would know Shadid's work well. He has been a guest many times over the years – quite a lot during the start of the so-called Arab spring a year ago. His most recent posting was the Beirut bureau of The New York Times. He worked for The Washington Post for many years before that. One of his former editors at The Post, Phil Bennett, characterized Shadid's impact: "He changed the way we saw Iraq, Egypt, Syria over the last, crucial decade ... There is no one to replace him."
Martin Baron, who worked with Shadid at The Boston Globe, described why he was beloved by so many: "He had such a profound and sophisticated understanding of the region ... More than anything, his effort to connect foreign coverage with real people on the ground, and to understand their lives, is what made his work so special. It wasn't just a matter of diplomacy: it was a matter of people and how their lives were so dramatically affected by world events," Baron told The New York Times.
Shadid met near-fatal risk a number of times while covering conflict in the Middle East. In 2002 covering demonstrations in the West Bank, Shadid was shot in the shoulder. In Libya last year, Shadid and his colleagues were kidnapped for six days and beaten by their captors. Most recently, Syrian authorities dubbed him a spy and reportedly his family was being followed by Syrian agents in Lebanon.
Shadid was born in Oklahoma City to Lebanese-American parents. He studied political science and journalism at the University of Wisconsin. He worked for The Associated Press, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post and The New York Times, but also contributed to myriad other news outlets including KPCC.
WEIGH IN:
What will you remember about Shadid?
Guest:
Borzou Daragahi, Cairo-based correspondent for the Financial Times
FilmWeek: 'This Means War,' 'Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance,' 'The Secret World of Arrietty,' Oscar Nominated Short Films: Documentary and more
KPCC film critics Tim Cogshell, Wade Major and Charles Solomon join Larry to review the week’s new film releases, including This Means War, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, The Secret World of Arrietty, Oscar Nominated Short Films: Documentary and more. TGI-FilmWeek!
Guests:
Tim Cogshell, film critic for KPCC and Box Office Magazine
Wade Major, film critic for KPCC and boxoffice.com
Charles Solomon, animation critic for KPCC and historian for amazon.com
They do their own stunts
How many times have you heard an actor in an interview boast that he does his own stunts? How many times have you actually believed it? It doesn’t take an advanced understanding of the ins and outs of Hollywood to realize that stunt actors play a crucial role in the execution of today’s intense action scenes and sequences.
However, these figures often don’t receive the focus they deserve. We welcome guests Jeff Wolfe, a noted mixed martial arts expert who wears several hats in the stunt world for film and television and Julie Michaels, an actress and stunt woman who coordinates action sequences and stunts on the show “Southland” with her husband, Peewee Piemonte. In fact, they are the first husband and wife team to receive an Emmy for their work in stunt coordination on the show.
Wolfe has served as a body double to actors like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and has acted in action scenes opposite Ryan Reynolds and Ryan Gosling in “The Green Lantern” and “Drive” respectively. Beyond just performing himself, he has also been called upon my directors to choreograph action sequences for television and film. In fact, the only Emmy the show “CSI: Miami” has ever received was for the action sequence he directed in the opening of one of its episodes.
Julie Michaels started as an actress in “Roadhouse” playing the blonde bombshell opposite Patrick Swayze. Then, she went on to be dubbed “The babe who nuked Keanu” by the New York Times for her fight scene with Reeves in “Point Break.” Wolfe and Michaels will walk us through their two careers doing stunts in Hollywood, as well as provide an insight to the craft on the whole.
How does one rise through the ranks from a body double to choreographing acting scenes? What skills do stunt actors draw upon, and how do they stay sharp? What changes could be made in Hollywood so that action actors get to share more of the spotlight with their dramatic counterparts?
Guests:
Julie Michaels, actor and stunt woman, works on the television show “Southland” as a stunt coordinator
Jeff Wolfe, action actor, body double, stunt performer and stunt coordinator for movies such as the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series, “Drive,” “The Green Lantern,” and the television shows “NCIS” and “CSI: Miami”; has twenty years experience in mixed martial arts.