Today on AirTalk we'll track down the latest on the Space Shuttle Endeavours maiden voyage home, uncover California's new online voter registration initiative, a look at higher education's move into online classes, TGI-Filmweek with our esteemed panel of critics and a conversation with film historian Robert Harris and Executive Vice President of Film Restoration at Sony, Grover Crisp about the re-release of the epic film "Lawrence of Arabia". Plus, the latest news.
Endeavour buzzes Southern California
The Space Shuttle Endeavour circled the Earth 4,671 times on its own power, but will need a piggyback ride from a modified 747 for its final voyage over the skies of Los Angeles.
Luckily for local residents, the shuttle will be sticking to a strict itinerary. Angelenos hoping to catch a glimpse of the shuttle can do so (weather permitting) starting starting at around 12 noon.
Here are some likely vantage points along the route: KPCC Map
Specifics about the flyovers have been tight due to security concerns, but Endeavour and its modified 747 ferry aircraft will fly at 1,500 feet over several local landmarks. Authorities are also reminding drivers to be careful and not try and take photos while driving. A cool looking Instagram just isn’t worth it.
Will you be making a trip out to see Endeavour’s final flight? Which Los Angeles flyby location do you think will offer the best view? Malibu with the crystal blue ocean? Griffith Park with the majestic Observatory in the background? Are you lucky enough to live on the flyby route?
Guests:
Corey Moore, KPCC reporter covering the landing at Los Angeles International Airport
Brian Watt, KPCC Reporter
California launches online voter registration, as Governor Brown weighs same-day registration bill
Registering to vote in the Golden State is now just a click away. California’s new online voter registration launched yesterday in hopes of making the registering process easier for more people.
The online service will search through the DMV database to verify a resident’s identification and pair it with their information. Until now, potential voters had to to fill out paperwork and mail it in to be added to the voter polls. Meanwhile, Governor Jerry Brown is considering a new bill, AB 1436, which would allow voters to register up to election day. As it stands now, a resident must register at least 15 days before an election.
WEIGH IN
With low voter turnout statewide and over a quarter of Californians unregistered, the online registration service and AB 1436 could encourage more voter participation. Should California make it easier to vote? Should other states follow suit? How much of a concern is voter ID fraud with these new initiatives?
Guests:
Tim Donnelly,California State Assemblyman, R-59th District (San Bernardino, San Dimas); Vice-Chair, Committee on Elections and Redistricting
Mike Feuer, California Assemblymember (D-42 Los Angeles). 42nd Assembly District includes West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, Bel Air, Brentwood, Hollywood, Hancock Park, Los Feliz, North Hollywood, Valley Village, Toluca Lake, Universal City, Studio City and Sherman Oaks.
Coursera: Delivering a new era in education
Have you ever imagined taking a class at Columbia University while sitting on the beach in Santa Monica? Good news: The dream of online higher-education is quickly becoming a reality.
Coursera, the fastest growing internet education platform, added 17 more universities this week, bringing their total to 33. New schools include The Berklee College of Music, Brown, Columbia, and international schools like the University of London and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Coursera was launched only 5 months ago and has been able to grow rapidly because it leaves the heavy lifting (the teaching, curriculum, and quality control) to the actual universities. Other MOOCS (massive, open online courses) including Udacity, offer their own classes.
Co-founder Daphne Koller said that tapping into different universities is an effective way to cover the breadth of cultures, languages and teachable topics in the world, because each institution has its strengths. She added that the universities have been eager to participate in Coursera's education model.
"I think universities are actually quite attracted to the notion of this collaboration of top institutions, of peers – that they can all learn together how to teach effectively, and what is effectively a completely new educational medium," she said. "This is not just frontal instruction put on video. It is completely different.
Scott Page is a professor at the University of Michigan who has taught two terms through Coursera.
"Normally I'm sitting there, I'm six feet tall and I've got a 20-inch screen. Here, you've got a lot of people watching on their phone," he said. "It's a difference in terms of how much info you can present ... how do you make it come alive knowing that you're not going to have that responsiveness that you normally have in the classroom.
Page said professors must rethink how they relay information to students. Unlike a normal 50-minute or hour-long class period, Coursera courses are broken down into 8 to 15 minute blocks.
His first class had 40,000 students, and the second had 90,000. He received emails from students all over the world. Page said that with Coursera, he feels like he's participating in a global experience.
"You've got 40 people in a class when you're there in person; you can control the class, you know the class. Here it's just more like, 'Wow, let's see what happens,'" he said. "You're throwing out information in a way, and then people respond to it in directions you never could have anticipated and you can't possibly control."
Koller said Coursera is lucky to have enough funding right now, but the team has been looking into a sustainable source of funding. Though the education will remain free, Coursera may consider charging a modest amount for getting certification.
WEIGH IN:
Can these courses match a true classroom education? Will platforms like Coursera catch on? Is there something to be said for face-to-face interaction?
Guests:
Daphne Koller, Co-founder, Coursera, and computer science professor, Stanford University
Scott Page, Professor of Complex Systems, Political Science, and Economics at the University of Michigan (teaches Model Thinking through Coursera)
FilmWeek: Trouble With the Curve, End of Watch, Dredd 3D, The House at the End of the Street, The Perks of Being a Wallflower and more
Larry is joined by KPCC film critics Wade Major and Claudia Puig to review this week’s new films, including Trouble With the Curve, End of Watch, Dredd 3D, The House at the End of the Street, The Perks of Being a Wallflower and more.
Plus, KPCC film critic Peter Rainer will give us a review from two recent film festivals. TGI-FilmWeek!
Guests:
Claudia Puig, film critic for KPCC and USA Today
Wade Major, film critic for KPCC and boxoffice.com
Peter Rainer, film critic for KPCC and the Christian Science Monitor
Trailer for Trouble With the Curve
Trailer for End of Watch
Trailer for Dredd 3D
Trailer for The House at the End of the Street
'Lawrence of Arabia' gets a digital facelift
One of the most legendary films in all of cinema is getting an anniversary present this year.
Director David Lean’s “Lawrence of Arabia” is 50-years-old, and to celebrate the film, Sony has prepared a digital restoration of the film for release in theaters and on Blu-ray. Moviegoers will be able to watch Peter O’Toole portray the life of T.E. Lawrence on 633 theaters across the country starting October 4th through Fathom Events, and those who want to watch at home will have to wait until November 13th for the Blu-ray boxed set.
Robert A. Harris, part of the first restoration project in 1988, praised Grover Crisp, Sony's executive vice president of film restoration, for leading the effort.
"I hate to slap people on the back, but the great thing about Grover ... is that he's a perfectionist," he said. "Grover could have taken short cuts in this, and he didn't, and he got Sony to go along with it."
Harris said that the restoration done in the late-80s used a process called "wet-gate printing," which hide about 90 percent of the imperfections in the film.
"When Grover started scanning this at 8K [resolution], he opened a Pandora's box and he's been dealing with that for over two years now. The film is scratched, it has nicks, it has tears. There is actually heat damage from the desert. He was able to bring in a software company to create a methodology to help with that," he detailed.
For the uninitiated, the story takes place in Arabia during World War I, and the landscape of the desert with the backdrop of violence made it into one of the most epic films of all time. In fact, many would argue that it still stands as the quintessential example of the cinematic epic. Winning seven Oscars in 1962, including Best Picture and Best Director, the movie went on to influence generations of directors to come.
A digital 4K trailer of "Lawrence of Arabia":
WEIGH IN:
What’s your favorite memory of “Lawrence of Arabia”? Will you be seeing it when it comes to theaters in October?
Guests:
Grover Crisp, Executive Vice President of Film Restoration at Sony, headed up the effort to convert “Lawrence of Arabia” to a digital format
Robert A. Harris, film historian and preservationist, owner of The Film Preserve Ltd., restored the 1989 director’s cut version of “Lawrence of Arabia”
Wade Major, film critic for KPCC and boxoffice.com
Claudia Puig, film critic for KPCC and USA Today
More information about the release of "Laurence of Arabia" can be found here.