A look at James Bond tunes, Air BnB's fight against regulation, and a head for the new Office of Child Protection
LA's new child protection chief talks need for change in welfare system
L.A. County's child welfare system has been plagued with problems that first came to light in May 2013.
That's when 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez was tortured and beaten to death, allegedly at the hands of his mother and her boyfriend. Several agencies had investigated allegations of abuse before Fernandez's death, but each time, they concluded there was no evidence and did not write a detailed report.
In the wake of his death, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors created a Blue Ribbon Commission to examine where things fell apart. The group declared a state of emergency in L.A.'s child welfare system and called for dozens of reforms, including the creation of a brand new Office of Child Protection.
Now that office has a new leader: Michael Nash, former presiding judge of L.A. County's Juvenile Court. Nash spoke with Take Two host Alex Cohen.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS:
On what made him want to take on the incredibly challenging new job
"For a number of reasons. Some people might just say I'm plain crazy, and I wouldn't necessarily disagree with that. But quite frankly, this has been a passion of mine for some 26 years now. I began as a judge in the juvenile court in 1990. And from 1995 until I retired at the beginning of 2015, I was in a position of leadership in the juvenile court. And I think during that period of time, we did some positive things. I wish that I could have said when I left that I had fixed the whole thing, but I guess that wasn't to be. But through this position here, which is a very unique position, I will have a very unique opportunity to continue in that crusade to help our county in how it serves at risk children and families in Los Angeles County, and I'm excited about that."
On his approach toward bringing different parties involved in the child welfare system together
"The one thing I've always believed is that we really have to have the attitude of, we have to do the right thing for our kids. And it has not been that difficult to find areas that we can agree on when it comes to doing the right thing for kids and families. Now, there are issues that arise, some may have to do with the availability of resources, there are different perspectives about certain things, but at the end of the day, everybody that works in this area knows that at some point we will and we must come to a consensus so that we can move forward. And I believe that that will continue to be the case."
To hear the full interview, click the blue player above.
Shared economy shows its political strength
This week the "shared economy" companies like Air B&B and Uber got a big lift in San Francisco.
Voters there defeated Proposition F - which would have drastically curbed short-term rentals available on the room-sharing website.
It was a decisive victory for AirBnB, and some say others. We talk about it with
, who wrote about this for the New York Times
ProPublica reporter unveils the Little Saigon killings you didn't know about
Five journalists killed for their views. A shadowy group dedicated to the overthrow of a foreign government. A death squad.
It sounds like something out of a mystery novel, but it's actually the latest investigation by ProPublica and PBS Frontline that focuses on newly-arrived Vietnamese immigrants to the U.S. in the 1980s.
The deaths of the five journalists were never solved, and no one has been brought to justice. Reporter AC Thompson has painstakingly investigated the murders, and believes he's tracked down who killed them, and why.
He laid out the story for host A Martinez. You can read the ProPublica piece here, and watch the PBS Frontline video here.
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue audio player above.
The Wheel Thing: Cars are the stars in the new James Bond flick, 'Spectre'
There are two things that every Bond movie absolutely must have: a femme fatale and a bunch of really wild cars.
"Spectre" is the 24th film in the 007 series, and it's chock full of hairy vehicles. Bond's latest signature Aston Martin is the DB-10. A concept car designed especially for the film, it's cool, clean and wickedly fast. And it has to be, to outrun the screamer driven by 007's nemesis. It's a Jaguar C-X75, a turbo-charged monster that churns out 850hp from a four-cylinder turbo engine.
There's a nice supporting cast in "Spectre" as well. It includes a fully carbon-bodied Bugatti, a 1948 Rolls Silver Wraith, and an Aston Martin model that well-heeled mortals can actually purchase, the Lagonda (MSRP around $300,000.)
Our motor critic, Susan Carpenter, shares her thoughts about the cars in the latest film, the autos Bond has driven through his long history, and role they've played in creating the James Bond myth.
The recipe for a James Bond song: Strings, brass and awkward lyrics
It's a safe bet that most people associate this song with a certain suave spy from London's MI-6.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUC8dJ0D6sA
But what about this one?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFurkDf6WXg
Yes? No? That '80s-tastic Bond ballad comes courtesy of the flick "Octopussy."
There's been a lot of action in the two dozen Bond films made over the past five decades. But two Stanford researchers say it's the Bond songs that stick with audiences long after the last love scene.
Adrian Daub and Charles Kronengold explored the songs of Bond in the book, "The James Bond Songs: Pop Anthems of Late Capitalism." They joined host A Martinez to share what they discovered.
Goldfinger, a gold standard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy_PJODH3p0
Author Adrian Daub says Shirley Bassey's "Goldfinger" stands apart from all other Bond songs for a very special reason.
"Goldfinger is the perfect Bond song partly because it has everything wrong with it that all the later bond songs have too," Daub said. "It's a great song because it has these ridiculous lyrics that Shirley Bassey just has to act as if is are the most meaningful things she's sung."
Adrian Daub says Goldfinger's outdated sound and brass-heavy orchestration, teamed up with Bassey's sincere delivery say a lot about who James Bond is as a character: outdated, and even a little cheesy.
That awkward decade when Bond was in over his head
Nearly two decades after Goldfinger, Bond was singing a different tune.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo9uXd48HME
Charles Kronengold tells Take Two that the movie's producers were trying to achieve the sound of Duran Duran in "A View to a Kill," without hiring Duran Duran. They instead chose A-ha, previously known for their song, "Take on Me."
"This was a very weird choice for a Bond song, even as Duran Duran was, because these were groups that were kind of amateurish," Kronengold said. "You really hear that in the songs. They're really thrown together, their singers sound kind of nervous, which is the opposite of what Shirley Bassey and Nancy Sinatra sound like ..."
Kronengold adds that, though the orchestration was "lumpy," there is still a lot to like about the song.
"Spectre" the Lugubrious
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jzDnsjYv9A
Charles Kronengold says the new Bond song for the upcoming "Spectre" bares little resemblance to Bond songs past.
"It's this — kind of — Bond song as a lugubrious mourning song on steroids," Kronengold said. "Even 'Skyfall' has the whip-you-into-a-frenzy string arrangement, and a little bit of biting brass sounds, and a few Bond song motifs. The 'Spectre' song takes all of that out. It really gives us nothing but Sam Smith's falsetto," he said.
Despite Spectre's dirge-like qualities, author Adrian Daub says he'll reserve final judgement until after he sees the opening sequence in theatres.
Press the blue play button above to hear more James Bond songs.
State of Affairs: Airbnb's win, marijuana legalization and 'ballot selfies'
On this week's State of Affairs, Airbnb wins in San Francisco, competing efforts to legalize marijuana and raise the minimum wage in CA make progress toward the 2016 ballot, and a proposed bill to legalize "ballot selfies."
Joining Take Two to discuss:
- Scott Shafer, senior editor for KQED's California Politics and Government Desk
- Carla Marinucci, POLITICO's California Playbook reporter
StormCatcher Project gets LA residents in on rain collection
There's no rain on the immediate horizon for Southern California, but forecasters are calling for a wet El Niño winter.
If those predictions hold true, it won't completely solve the drought, but it could help — especially if rainfall gets collected at home.
The L.A. Department of Water and Power has teamed up with the group Tree People for something they're calling the StormCatcher Project. Andy Lipkis, founder and president of TreePeople, joined the show to tell more.
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue audio player above.