The White House announces a plan to tackle heroin use in the U.S., Disneyland announces Star Wars Land, Jose Huizar and the Jordan Downs project.
Will the 'force be with' Disney's new Star Wars-themed park?
Star Wars fans at Disney’s annual D23 Expo in Anaheim got a big surprise this weekend. CEO Bob Iger unveiled plans to build Star Wars themed parks at Disneyland and Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The announcement was met with mixed feelings from fans of both franchises.
KPCC traffic associate and self-dubbed ‘vice-chancellor of all things nerdy,’ Jennifer Miller was there for the announcement. She tells Take Two’s Alex Cohen she was floored by the news.
“To me it was a dream come true. Since I was four-years-old and I went to see Return of the Jedi with my father for the first time, I’ve always wanted to be able to go to this universe and touch these buildings and interact with these characters and these people, and now I’m going to have an opportunity to do that. I can’t wait. It can’t come soon enough.”
Justin Bolger, host of the podcast, “Star Wars with Friends,” says he’d heard rumors, but no one was expecting Iger’s announcement to come so soon.
“To be able to immerse yourself in this world for the first time -- in this incredible fashion -- put on by Disney Imagineers and people who make it their business to deliver these kinds of experiences is mind-blowing.”
While excitement was high supply among Star War fans, some Disney devotees were a bit skeptical. Miller says her friend, who was also present for the announcement, wasn’t completely sold on the idea.
“Her concern is that having one land that is totally devoted to one franchise is going to take away from Disney’s vision for Disneyland … My feeling is that Star Wars is not just a movie franchise, it’s not just about television, it’s become a culture unto itself.”
Conversely, she notes that some Star Wars fans have expressed concern about Disney’s commercialization of the franchise. But Bolger says he’s been pleasantly surprised at how well Disney has governed the brand, since acquiring parent company Lucasfilm in 2012.
“There is a large degree of quality control over all of it, from the content itself to the message around that content. That’s exciting for someone like me, who hasn’t seen the franchise managed this well as long as I’ve been a fan.”
Disneyland in Anaheim will begin construction in 2017. No opening date has been set.
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue audio player above.
Here's how Obama's fight against heroin impacts Southern California
The Obama administration is emphasizing treatment in a bid to staunch the nation's rising heroin epidemic. The national Drug Control Policy announced on Monday a new $13.4-million funding plan. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, deaths from heroin overdoses have quadrupled over the past decade.
It's the Obama administration's latest strategy in the war on drugs, said journalist Sam Quinones, author of the book Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic.
How funding the fight on heroin impacts Southern California
In terms of heroin use, Quinones says Southern California is better off than other parts of the West Coast. While Southern California's "heroin belt" includes places like Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Orange County, other cities like Portland, Oregon, are in worse shape.
"Portland has a very bad problem," Quinones said. "Los Angeles has a ... it's hard to say ... a perhaps slightly less bad problem than Portland does per capita, but it doesn't seem like we're getting much money in out in our neck of the woods."
Most of the money is slated to go to other portions of the nation, like Appalachia, which Quinones describes as "ravaged" by the drug.
"Appalachia is in serious trouble," he said. "It does seem like, though, that this is money going to another part of the country."
Prevention, treatment are big parts of the plan
The new plan seems to signify a shift in focus in the war on drugs -- from punishment to prevention.
"Opiate addiction, we're finding, is very, very different from addiction to other things, and what recovery involves is -- frequently -- relapse. So you fail several times," Quinones said. "So the idea is to look for ways of funding more treatment, because treatment with this addiction is crucial, and it's very long-term, and it's expensive."
While the new money helps, Quinones thinks that local officials are ultimately the best resources for solutions.
"There's a lot of teamwork that I think is very effective, but I do believe that the answers are frequently at the local level. Finding new treatment beds, finding new ways of stopping the thing before it starts, talking individually with doctors -- this is where this stuff really has to happen."
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue audio player above.
Fighting California's fires burns brush, and big bucks
California's firefighters are currently battling 16 active wildfires as of Monday. The biggest, the Jerusalem, is mostly under control.
But others are still raging, like the Cabin fire, just 15 miles from Pasadena, which as of Sunday night was only 60 percent contained.
It's stretching resources to breaking point. This year, for the first time ever, the U.S. Forest Service dedicated more than half of its budget to fighting wildfires, and a new report estimates that in the next decade, 2 out of every 3 Forest Service dollars will be spent fighting the ever-growing number of fires in the West.
Robert Bonnie, undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment at the USDA, says fire seasons across the country are now 80 days longer than they were 30 years ago. This, combined with more homes being built near forests, and voila -- fires are now more expensive to fight.
"Instead of being able to put in a line to fight the fire where Cal Fire or the Forest Service would want to, we have to do point protection, where we want to obviously always protect people and lives," he said. "It requires more equipment, it requires more people, more aircraft, those types of things."
The fires themselves are also bigger, which contributes to the cost, Bonnie added. This means other areas have suffered, like recreation, research and the kind of forest management that would help prevent these fires in the first place.
"The problem with fire is that we treat it as a normal, everyday expense," he said. "We really should treat fires more like disaster."
Bonnie says there is one silver lining: There are proposals in the president's budget and a bipartisan proposal in Congress that would help designate fires as disasters.
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue audio player above.
On The Lot: 'Straight Outta Compton' dominates and Disney brings back Toy Story
Every week
of the LA Times joins the show for her regular segment "On The Lot," where she talks about the most interesting stuff happening in the film business.
This week, the film "Straight Outta Compton" dominated the box office, pulling in more than $56 million dollars. What does the film's success mean for African-American directors and creators in Hollywood, especially in regards to The Academy? Scott Feinberg digs into that over at The Hollywood Reporter. Some say that the film might even be an Oscar contender. And revenue is only expected to grow as it hits the international box office.
Disney put on their version of Comic-Con this weekend called D23. There were some huge animation announcements which mentioned "Toy Story 4" and "Finding Dory," the followup to the hugely successful "Finding Nemo." More Marvel films are on their way. And Star Wars-land is going to soon be a thing.
And finally, 3D movies are growing up and filmmakers are using them and larger display formats to get people into theater seats and to make the movies feel like a more unique experience.
Listen in on Mondays at about 9:40AM PST to hear the segment live. But if you miss it, you can give it a listen on TakeTwoShow.org by clicking on the audio embedded at the top of the post.
LA City Councilman Joe Buscaino on Jordan Downs: 'Watts deserves better'
It's been 50 years since violence and unrest in the South Los Angeles community of Watts led to the deaths of 34 people.
Much has changed in the neighborhood since then. A local swimming pool was recently redone, celebrity chef Roy Choi plans to open a new restaurant there, and renowned architect Frank Gehry has signed on to design a campus for the Children's Institute.
But, according to L.A. City Councilman Joe Buscaino, there is one place in Watts which has been sorely overlooked: the Jordan Downs public housing complex.
The housing development has shed its reputation as a hotbed for crime and gang violence, but the buildings themselves have fallen into disrepair.
In 2011, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles selected a developer for the renovation, and a plan was drawn up, but work has yet to begin.
In a recent L.A. Times op-ed, Buscaino asks, "Why the delay on redeveloping Jordan Downs?"
"Once again, Watts has been overlooked at a time when this federal grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development should have been gift-wrapped with a big red bow as we reflect on 50 years." - L.A. City Councilman Joe Buscaino
Buscaino further explained to host Alex Cohen that a "botched application" prevented Jordan Downs from being renovated.
"I was just completely, completely devastated the fact that we've lost out three times in the last three years on both federal and state grant dollars," he said.
Take Two did reach out to the Housing Authority for comment on Buscaino's claims of a "botched application," but a response had not been received by Monday afternoon.
Buscaino said he was slated to meet with the Housing Authority on Monday, at which time he would "demand a game plan with strict timelines."
"It's a new day there," he said. "...And yet, we have not broken ground, and Watts deserves better."
To hear the full interview with Joe Buscaino, click the blue audio player above.
'Sesame Street' divided: HBO move emphasizes kids' economic status, writer says
For those trying to get to "Sesame Street" for the next five seasons, you're going to have to be an HBO subscriber.
Last week, Time Warner announced a plan to bring Big Bird and his crew to the same network known for adult fare like "Game of Thrones" and "True Detective."
Episodes will air first on HBO and then will be available for free on PBS nine months later -- which raises serious concerns for Alyssa Rosenberg, who blogs about pop culture for The Washington Post.
"This feels like a public good to us," said Rosenberg. "It's something that you're supposed to have access to ... So I think it's unnerving to us that, this show, which we feel emotionally as if it's some sort of public service, is going behind a private paywall, and that poor children -- children whose parents or schools don't have cable -- will get the episodes later than children from wealthier families. It injects a sense that the system is tiered into a show that has always been about equity, and community, and common good."
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue audio player above.
5 Every Week: '2001' at Hollywood Bowl; Watts debris; an FYF kick-off
Here are five great things you should do in Southern California this week, from art to food to music to an adventure we’ll call the Wild Card from the makers of the 5 Every Day app. Get this as a new podcast in iTunes. If you want five hand-picked things to do in Los Angeles every day, download the free 5 Every Day from the App Store.
ART: Noah Purifoy at LACMA
If you haven’t had your fill from Take Two's extensive anniversary coverage of the Watts Rebellion, LACMA’s got another perspective for you.
It’s “Junk Dada,” a career-spanning exhibition of late Angeleno artist and social activist Noah Purifoy—an under-recognized, West Coast descendant of the European Dadaists.
“Junk Dada” is a first-of-its-kind retrospective. It’s been on display since June, but now’s an especially timely week to visit. One of the show’s big draws is Purifoy's early body of sculptures, grouped together as “66 Signs of Neon,” which he famously pieced together from debris he salvaged from the streets of Watts after the riots. It’s all pretty awe-inspiring.
At LACMA through September 27, 5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036
City: The Wisdom Tree
Griffith Park has a long history of quasi-legal improvements.
There’s Amir’s Garden, a secret hilltop garden planted over the course of three decades by an Iranian immigrant armed with only a pick and shovel.
And there’s the now-dismantled tea house built this year in a hidden corner of the park.
But we’ve got a tip today from our fellow LA lover Casey Schreiner, of the Modern Hiker blog, whose favorite DIY project in Griffith Park is the "Wisdom Tree."
The Widsom Tree is a pine supposedly planted by an anonymous hiker some 35 years ago, along with a few other giveaway saplings from a local Vons. A 2007 wildfire ravaged the hillside, but the Wisdom Tree survived.
Today, an old ammo box stores wishes, prayers, and musings of hikers who make the trek to the Tree. There’s even a register where you can write your own deep thoughts for future hikers.
Wonder View trailhead is at Lake Hollywood and Wonder View Drive in the Hollywood Hills. Here are driving directions.
FOOD: Conflict Kitchen
We’re strong believers in food as a form of cultural exchange.
That’s why we love Los Angeles’ many ethnic enclaves; by exploring culinary delicacies from around the world, we get a global education in our own backyards.
It’s also why we love the Conflict Kitchen, a restaurant in Pittsburgh–of all places–that exclusively serves food from countries with which the US is currently in conflict.
Think North Korean Bi-Bim-Bap, Iranian kebabs, Venezuelan empenadas...all served in beautifully-designed wrappers that feature interviews with people from those places talking about food, life, and politics. This Wednesday, the Conflict Kitchen’s co-director Dawn Weleski will be at the Hammer Museum, serving Afghan Cuisine, and discussing the restaurant’s culinary—and cultural—aspirations.
Make lunch, not war!
Wednesday, August 19, 7:30 p.m. at the Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024.
MUSIC: Body High FYF Kick-off
Single day tickets to this year’s FYF Fest are gone, meaning that if you want to see Morrissey flounce around in front of his most devoted disciples, you'll have to fork over for the full weekend.
Which is a commitment. As the city's flagship Summer music festival, FYF is a massive sprawl. But if you can't bring yourself to drop close to $200 on those two-day tickets, there are plenty of other adjunct musical happenings and parties to take in this weekend, clustered like moths to the festival’s flame.
Here’s a good one. Body High, a record label of forward-thinking dance music producers, are throwing a great big FYF kickoff party on the roof of the Standard downtown this Friday.
On the decks will be the roster’s local heroes: Samo Sound Boy, Todd Edwards, Jerome LOL, and Joaquin Bartra.
Friday, August 21, 2015 at 9:00 PM at The Standard hotel rooftop, 550 S Flower St, Los Angeles, CA 90071
WILDCARD: '2001' with orchestra
There's never been a movie quite like Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey." Sure, it's often imitated, but when it comes to megalomaniacal sci-fi cinema, everything else pales.
It’s just the gold standard: an existential space drama so deeply ingrained into popular culture that people who haven't seen it know exactly what it means when Richard Strauss' Thus Spoke Zarathurstra's big pomp and circumstance kicks in.
This Tuesday, the LA Phil takes that pomp and circumstance to the next level, providing a live soundtrack as the movie beams across the eons onto the big screen at the Hollywood bowl.
Take the trip.
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