Will the claims about Amazon's work culture deter customers? Making the 'Fresh Prince' reboot relevant, 'Straight Outta Compton' and film diversity.
What would Trump's expanded border wall mean for the Southwest?
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is calling for an expanded wall along the US-Mexico border as part of his immigration plan, released this week on his campaign's website.
It's not a new idea – and a perennial talking point every election season – but it seems to be gaining traction. According to the most recent CNN poll, one-quarter of registered Republicans now support Trump for president.
"Communities along the border have been through this before," said Melissa Del Bosque, reporter with the Texas Observer who writes the La Línea blog. "Most of the land on the border in Texas is privately-owned so a lot of land owners have been sued by the government and have had their land seized."
New York Times' Amazon article creates interesting work culture discussion
The New York Times recently published a piece delving deep into Amazon's success and how it's achieved it. The article describes a grueling workspace: e-mails demanding response round the clock, employees encouraged to rip into each other's ideas, and even motherhood preventing employees from top positions at Amazon.
But will the article have any big repercussions for the tech company giant, especially in a financial sense?
Consumer psychologist Kit Yarrow is the author of the book "Decoding the New Consumer Mind: How and Why We Shop and Buy." Yarrow says typically something like this can end a business, however she does not think this is going to be the case for Amazon "it's dealing with white collar workers, who consumers tend to be less sympathetic to."
The New York Times piece has generated more than 5,200 comments. Many readers questioned whether they would continue to buy products from Amazon, considering how it treats its workers.
Take Two listeners chimed in on Twitter:
Amazon's practices have long made me avoid patronizing them. NYT's story is just the latest justification.
Does this @nytimes piece on @amazon's work culture make you think twice about using it? Tweet @taketwo your thoughts http://t.co/OoLjhV8VSw
— 89.3 KPCC (@KPCC) August 18, 2015— Rachel Reed (@SeriousRachel)
Amazon's practices have long made me avoid patronizing them. NYT's story is just the latest justification. @taketwo https://t.co/WNd2WR0jBQ
— Rachel🤓 (@SeriousRachel) August 18, 2015
For sure. The fact that there are no women at the senior executive level is indisputable and unacceptable.
— Lian Dolan (@liandolan)
For sure. The fact that there are no women at the senior executive level is indisputable and unacceptable. @KPCC @amazon @taketwo
— Lian Dolan (@liandolan) August 18, 2015
Yarrow says while this story has created a great conversation about workplace culture, "most of the public understands there is probably another side to the story."
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos responded Monday to the piece.
"I don't recognize this Amazon and I very much hope you don't, either," he said.
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue audio player above.
How to prepare for the first day of kindergarten? A veteran teacher weighs in
The first day of school can be an exciting one for parents and kids, but also a stressful day, especially for the newest kids on the block: kindergarteners.
There's even a new children's book out about the tricky transition to kindergarten, called "Eva and Sadie and the Best Classroom EVER!"
Author and dad Jeff Cohen's first kid's book ("Eva and Sadie and the Worst Haircut EVER!") came about after he recorded his two young daughters talking about a haircut gone terribly awry. The audio clip he posted online went viral and landed the family a book deal.
In "Eva and Sadie and the Best Classroom EVER!" Sadie teaches her little sister, Eva, all about kindergarten.
Cohen says the idea for the book came from a pretend classroom that the girls play with at home, and from his memories of his own anxieties about starting school. But it's not just kids who are stressed about the first day of kindergarten.
“It’s hard for parents, especially for parents," Cohen says. "I think there’s a lot of pressure and I think kids pick up on that.”
Veteran teacher Sharon Lee agrees. She runs parenting support groups in L.A. and seminar for parents called "Kindergarten or Bust."
"I definitely think we stress more, for multitudes of reasons," Lee says. "Partly because parents have a choice now, where years ago we didn't really have a choice... And so then [parents] invest their time and their thought... and that just culminates. And I think about it, on the the first day of kindergarten, there you are, it's this heightened experience."
In her "Kindergarten or Bust" seminars, Lee tries to ease parents' fears, and offers these tips:
- Don't worry, your child is already 'perfectly perfect'
"The kindergartener, the child, is perfectly perfect being who they are as a human being. Because that's developmental. They've evolved knowing how to walk and talk and be independent. Those are your goals for a five-year-old child, developmentally.
It's always helpful for any child to go into kindergarten with their basic skills of the alphabet, and knowing how to count, and holding a pencil, sitting for short periods of time, and working on transition.
The most important thing that I think people have to realize is all this doesn't haven't have to be 'drilled and killed' into them throughout pre-school. It can just evolve naturally just by being in a healthy family environment where there's a lot of language and interaction.
But a lot of what we look for as a kindergarten teacher is for them to be emotionally ready... We want to make sure they're ready for this big day ahead, this big year ahead."
- Teach your child some independence (like putting on his/her own shoes)
"The line is hard to walk. When do you know when to choose your battles, to hurry up and get in the car, and to let them do it themselves. And I think as parents we have to step back and think, years ago, there was no Velcro! Every child starting kindergarten, they knew how to tie their shoes. And now, my back hurts because I have to bend over all the time trying to teach children how to tie their shoes.
If you really think about it, they developmentally have the finger strength, the eye ability to find a matching pair, and if they put them on the wrong feet, then that's their teachable moment that we as parents need to let them do. So I really encourage parents to use as much as your opportunities permit to teach you child to be independent."
- Trust your teachers
"Trust your teachers, trust that this is a rite of passage that everybody goes through. Look back where you were, and you're okay. Somewhere along the line, somebody will find out what their needs and get them met.
And give it some time... Breathe, and kind of just reflect back, because our own emotions are going to easily project onto the kids. And that's what you don't want."
To hear the full interviews with Jeff Cohen and Sharon Lee, click the link above.
'Stale Prince of Bel Air': Why a 'Fresh Prince' adaptation may fall flat
The web was abuzz this weekend upon news that a "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" reboot was in the works. Sources later clarified that Will Smith's production company is planning a "Fresh Prince"-like show. Though not much is known about the proposed production, many are left to wonder if the old fish-out-of-water plot line is still relevant more than 20 years later.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nCqRmx3Dnw
There's safety in remakes
NPR TV critic
says remakes and reboots are seen as generally safe bets to production companies -- thus the recent deluge of remakes and reboots.
"If you're an executive at this time in the media, it's hard to know what people want to watch," Deggans said. "But if you go out and spend a bunch of money to make a version of 'Minority Report' or make a version of a movie or a TV show that's already popular with the people, well who can blame you for spending the money? And if it doesn't work out, I think there's a sense that 'it was a good try.'"
Though taking a bigger chance holds the lure of a bigger payoff, new shows frequently flop.
Audiences want 'Fresh' plots
Nonetheless, Deggans says it's clear that audiences favor organic plots to programs that borrow on old concepts. He points to last seasons hit shows as an example.
"[You] wonder, 'are TV executives even paying attention to their own business?' Because, the lesson from this last TV season is you find talented actors and producers of color who have an original story they want to tell, and surprise -- you wind up with a story that feels fresh, but also resonates with a lot of people," he said.
Take successful shows like "Black-ish," "Empire," and "Jane the Virgin" for example.
"They were all inspired by creators who have something unique to say about cultures involving people of color," Deggans said.
The TV critic says the fish-out-of-water narrative may be seen as passé by modern audiences.
"All of those things are much more familiar to fans, and I think you'd have to find a fish-out-of-water story that felt unique," he said.
Deggans thinks studios should focus their finances and energies on nurturing new talents who will take shows in a new direction.
"That's why it's also so important to give creators of color -- who have original ideas -- the resources to make those voices into compelling television," he said. "Because then we get new voices added to the mix, instead of the same old ideas recycled again and again."
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue audio player above.
New music from Jon Cleary, Cécile McLorin Salvant and Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
If you don't have the time to keep up with the latest in new music, we've got the perfect solution for you: Tuesday Reviewsday. Every week our music experts come by to talk about the best new tunes in one short segment. This week, music journalist
Steve Hochman
Artist: Jon Cleary
Album: "GoGo Juice"
Songs: "Pump It Up," "Boneyard"
Summary: As you’ve certainly been made aware, the 10th anniversary of the New Orleans flood is coming up. So in New Orleans tradition, let’s mourn who and what was lost, but at the same time celebrate what we have. And that means have a parade, dance and knock back some, well, gogo juice.
That’s the approach for New Orleans keyboard man Jon Cleary, who kicks off his new album, titled after that high octane beverage, with the boisterous "Pump It Up," which alternates between jumpin’ ska and NOLA street music as if drawing a line from London’s two-tone movement through Jamaica to the Gulf Coast. Well, that fits — Cleary was raised in England, entranced by music from those regions before at age 17 in 1980 skipping to New Orleans and making a beeline to the side of such piano wizards as James Booker and Dr. John and songwriter-producer Allen Toussaint. One of his first gigs came when the owner of the Maple Leaf club pushed him on stage to sub for a truant Booker.
He learned his lessons well. You may have seen him in his long-time gig playing keys for Bonnie Raitt, or perhaps on David Simon’s HBO series "Treme." And through the years he’s become one of the go-to guys in the city’s great music scene, a keyboard ace in a town of keyboard aces, both in jaw-dropping solo performances and funking it up with his backing band, the Absolute Monster Gentlemen.
The title song is bouncy funk, there’s sweet soul in "Brother I’m Hungry," some Memphis-style simmer in "Beg, Steal and Borrow." "9-5" is a bluesy, organ-centric smolder, "Love On One Condition" echoes classic Rufus in its horns and step-climber beat. As is often the case with such things, the good times are never really far from the bad times, the worries and concerns — put aside, defied, mocked even, but still there. There’s depth through that, an acknowledgment sometimes merely hinted at, sometimes explicit. But the key song may be the most upbeat, a brass-band, gogo juice-fueled parade strider (in which he showcases his considerable guitar chops) that’s laughs at mortality, both for himself and the whole city: not ready for the "Boneyard."
Artist: Cécile McLorin Salvant
Album: "For One to Love"
Songs: "Stepsister’s Lament," "Wives and Lovers"
Summary: In recent performances, Cécile McLorin Salvant — the rising star in what for lack of a better term we’ll have to call contemporary cabaret jazz — strung together a sequence that served as something of a tuneful tutorial on women’s images in song. Very tuneful. And anything but pedantic while always delightful.
Two of those songs, both now featured on her bravura second album, "For One to Love," stood out in particular, both for what they say and how she sang them: "Stepsister’s Lament" and "Wives and Lovers." As in concert, they are touchstones on an album that runs from Bessie Smith ("What’s the Matter Now") to Judy Garland (a sparkling take on "The Trolley Song") to "West Side Story" (a jaw-dropping, extended "Something’s Coming," showcasing her fantastic backing trio, notably inventive pianist Aaron Diehl).
"Stepsister’s Lament," as you may recognize, is from Disney’s original animated "Cinderella," sung by one of Cindy’s jealous, entitled mean-girls tormentors, sort of ‘60s Kardashians. "Ugly" is the word usually used to preface any reference. Well, Salvant from first viewing of the film as a kid (she’s only 25 now) found herself keying on a sympathetic side of the lament. Not the entitled part, but the frustrated aspect, the dejected wondering as to why oh why it was this supercilious wisp of a blond that got the attentions of the prince rather than the more, uh, robust she.
Well, Salvant is anything but ugly, but she’s also anything but supercilious, not to mention anything but blond. Half French, half Haitian, the Miami-born singer is a substantive force, an exemplar of unaffected individualism with her close-cropped hair, feathery adornments and most recognizably her thick-rimmed, canary-yellow glasses, though you don’t have to see her to get that she’s special.
It’s as a singer that she makes her most forceful stand, her voice brimming with equal measures of talent and personality as it swoops from girlish tweet to honeyed seduction to guttural growl. There’s a casual, comfortable confidence to her, both in her appearance and her performance, allowing her to present such songs as these as commentary without sacrificing a bit of artistry and entertainment. Even when being ironic and critical, she really digs INTO the song with earnest gusto — more effective and subversive than getting goofy or preachy could ever be. And as such, she invests it with unexpected richness and depth.
That might be even more true for "Wives and Lovers," a 1963 Burt Bacharach/Hal David song originally sung by Jack Jones in connection with (but not appearing in) a movie of the same name. The message even back then was kinda cringe-worthy — essentially it says, Ladies, no matter what else you’ve got going in your favor, you’d better keep yourself gorgeous and run to greet your man when he comes home from work or else he’ll leave you for that pert secretary of his. Today it’s very "Mad Men," which maybe gives it a context, but doesn’t make it any better.
And yet, Salvant lets context take care of the commentary. She sings it for what it is, a great pop melody with clever, layered turns of phrases. In doing so to convey an archaic standard of womanhood, she sets some new standards of her own.
Artist: Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
Album: "Cuba: The Conversation Continues"
Songs: "All the Americas," "El Bombón"
Summary: In 1947, American be-bop trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie brought Cuban conguero Chano Pozo into his band and started a musical-cultural conversation that had a profound impact on both jazz and Afro Cuban music, even though the partnership lasted just a year, with Pozo shot to death in a Harlem bar in 1948.
Now New York pianist and composer Arturo O’Farrill has not just continued but renewed that musical discussion with a breathtaking, consistently inventive array of Afro-Cuban jazz over two CDs. Obviously, a lot has changed since the original conversation. In fact, O’Farrill was in Havana at work on this album the day last December on which President Obama announced plans to "normalize" relations with Cuba. So while this music takes in all the history — the classic Havana days, the Guevara-Castro revolution, the Cold War standoff, the refugee flotillas, and so on — the latest turns of history help make this music of a new era, an optimistic embrace of both the Cuban and American spirits of openness.
To make this happen, O’Farrill tabbed nine composers to offer musical statements, five Americans and four Cubans. The former roster has Earl McIntyre, Dafnis Prieto, Michelle Rosewoman and both O’Farrill and his drummer son Zack. The commissioned Cubans were Alexis Bosch, Bobby Carcassés, Cotó and Michel Herrera. Each brings rich imagination to the project, fleshed out by scintillating broad-palette arrangements and the supreme talents of several dozen musicians from both countries.
The centerpiece is Arturo O’Farrill’s "Afro Latin Jazz Suite," a four-movement set that covers a wide scope: the roots-impressionistic "Mother Africa," the sweeping, ultra-inclusive "All the Americas," a short, lovely "Adagio" and the key closing question, "What Now?" Furthering the cultural statement behind it is the presence on the sequence of featured guest Rudresh Mahanthappa, an American saxophonist of Indian heritage whose own music is among the most engagingly creative being made in jazz today. Mahanthappa reappears on Zack O’Farrill’s album-closing "There’s a Statue of Jose Martí in Central Park," which kind of suggests what George Gershwin might have done had been of Cuban rather than Russian-Jewish heritage.
It’s a varied journey, taking in modern be-bop (Bosch’s "Guajira Simple), modernist big-band (Herrera’s "Just One Moment"), current musical streams (O’Farrill’s "Vaca Frita," with some turntable scratching by DJ Logic fully integrated with the percolating Cuban drums) and the New Orleans-Caribbean connection (McIntyre’s parading "Second Line Soca" with vocalist Renée Manning).
And with Cotó’s "El Bombón," we’re right back at that Havana-Harlem matrix of 1947, but relocated to the brand-new embassies of 2015.
'Straight Outta Compton': What the film's success can do for Hollywood diversity
"Straight Outta Compton," the story of N.W.A, blew away industry expectations over the weekend with a $60 million debut.
Everything leading up to the film's opening was done up big. You couldn't go online without people talking about it, or creating their own "Straight Outta" memes on Instagram.
You couldn't turn on the TV or radio without bearing witness to the previews.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsbWEF1Sju0
The hype ran high. But expectations were another story, according to
.
"I actually think that the expectations were lower than they should have been," said Leonard, founder of The Black List. "The film did exceed even people's wildest expectations, including my own."
The reason behind this, he said, is an assumption about audiences.
"I think that there is an assumption that if you make a film about young black men that there is not the audience that there actually is for it," he said.
Considering all of this, can the film's wild success push Hollywood to stick to its diversity pledge?
'Straight Outta Compton' and Hollywood's diversity problem
Leonard alluded to Hollywood's lack of diversity in Tweets he posted during the opening weekend for "Straight Outta Compton."
Imagine the offers a director would get who opened a drama to $55MM in August... Which franchises will
be offered?
— Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard)
Imagine the offers a director would get who opened a drama to $55MM in August... Which franchises will @FGaryGray be offered?
— Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) August 16, 2015
Imagine the projects that would typically be offered to the previously unknown stars of a drama that opened to $55MM...
— Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard)
Imagine the projects that would typically be offered to the previously unknown stars of a drama that opened to $55MM...
— Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) August 16, 2015
Leonard hopes that "Straight Outta Compton" won't just break box office barriers, but break past the notion that there is not an appetite for people of color on screen.
"Hopefully people will stop looking at it as, 'these are one-offs that we are trying to replicate,' and just recognize that there is an opportunity to make films for a large audience," he said. "There's a real opportunity to make money by making good movies about historically underrepresented communities in Hollywood."
In addition, this isn't the first rodeo for
, the film's director. His track record of film success includes "Friday," "Set It Off" and "The Italian Job" to name a few. In a typical case, Gray -- and the film's three young actors,
,
and
-- should already have offers for their next hits. As of now, that doesn't necessarily appear to be the case. But that doesn't mean all is lost.
"History would suggest that in great success, there would be a great number of offers that would follow up," Leonard said. "I think time will tell."
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue audio player above.
Club de Cuervos, Netflix's first Spanish-language series, aims for crossover appeal
What do you get when you put together an ambitious, business-minded daughter, a spoiled son who loves to party and a beloved Mexican soccer team?
That would be the first Spanish-language series from Netflix, Club de Cuervos. It's a fast-paced, humorous tale of jealousy, small-city politics and, of course, fútbol.
"When I discovered that I was breaking new ground and they [Netflix] were taking a risk and they weren't even sure if this was going to work," recalled Gaz Alazraki, executive producer and co-show creator. "I was like, woah, this changes everything,"
But the show goes beyond the sport, said Alazraki, to become the story of a small fictional city in northern Mexico, called Nuevo Toledo, anchored by a family drama.
That broad appeal first attracted co-producer Jay Dyer to the project.
"I just keyed into the family dynamic and I realized this show has such an amazing potential to be huge," said Dyer, who added that Alazraki's top-grossing film, Nosotros Los Nobles, formed the inspiration for the series.
Whether the show hits that potential still remains to be seen. Netflix released the 13 episodes on August 7.
Watch a trailer for Club de Cuervos: