"What's going to happen with all the garbage?"

Due to a combination of my infrequent changes of residence and historically being a pack-rat, I found myself saddled with a sizeable portion of broken and unwanted electronics and computer-related flotsam and jetsam before moving into my new place several months ago. I was loathe to simply toss this e-waste in the trash, tempting as this prospect was after several days of packing and hauling stuff from my old house to new apartment (how on Earth did I, a self-proclaimed environmentalist and non-materialistic, small-carbon-footprint-having urbanite, acquire so much junk?).

Like Andie MacDowell's character in Steven Soderbergh's Sex, Lies and Videotape, I'm prone to feelings of anxiety when thinking about all the garbage we produce in this country. The trash barges floating off the north-east U.S. coast in the late 1980s, denied entry at every port, are a stark reminder of the enormous costs (both environmental and, for people like me, psychological) of our consumption-based economy.

When improperly disposed of, e-waste leaches toxic substances into our food and water supply: cadmium (kidney problems), lead (poisoning of children), mercury (brain damage), chromium VI (asthmatic bronchitis), brominated flame retardants (cancer of the digestive and lymph systems), and more. A recent EPA report estimates that 304 million electronic devices were removed from U.S. households in 2005, with 2/3 of those products still in working order, according to Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) estimates. That amount represents approximately 1.9 to 2.2 million tons of used and unwanted electronics, of which 1.5 to 1.9 million tons were primarily discarded in landfills. Only 345,000 to 370,000 tons were recycled.

The electronics industry generates $2 billion a year, and Americans own nearly three billion electronic products. When planned obsolescence is the norm for computers, TVs, cell phones, and MP3 players, what is a conscientious, neurotic environmentalist to do with all this electronic debris?

Luckily, a little on-line research produced some results. Here in Seattle, there is a company called 3R Technology that, for a reasonable fee, accepts a wide range of electronic items that shouldn’t be tossed into the garbage. For $24, I was able to get rid of the following: microwave oven; portable radio, CD and cassette players; computer printers, mouse and CPU; phone; rechargeable batteries and recharger, calculator, digital alarm clock, camera, pen-light, and more. 3R Technology guarantees that nothing they accept will enter a landfill; they will either repair/resell or recycle them, break down the parts for reuse, or even take them home (the man who did my in-take of items needed a microwave oven and thus didn't charge me for it). And, to top it all off, if you don't have a way to schlep your junk downtown to their Pioneer Square location, they will arrange to pick it up, at no extra charge. This was the best $24 I've spent in awhile.

The other great service I recently discovered is IPod Mechanic, located in Michigan. For a mere penny, they will email you a pre-paid UPS shipping label so you can send your broken IPod (see "planned obsolescence") to them for a no-obligation repair estimate. After they email you the diagnosis and cost to repair it, you can either accept the repair charges, decline the repair and have the IPod shipped back, or decline the repair and donate the IPod to them. Since my estimate was $100, and I could buy a brand-new model for only $150 more, I chose Option C and donated mine, even though they offered to throw in a new battery free of charge. Another highly recommended service, one that recycles and reuses parts from the ever-growing pool of IPods throughout the globe. For one cent, you can't go wrong.

With the rampant green-washing and dubious “environmental” business ventures proliferating in this late-capitalist/climate-change era, it's nice to discover truly green businesses, like 3R Technology and IPod Mechanic, that are part of the solution instead of part of the movement to simply cash-in on our real concerns about the planet. Kudos to both.

It's better to burn out than to fade away...

Let me start this post by apologizing for going AWOL for almost five months. I could tell you about all the changes in my life since that time (graduating from school, going through a long and arduous job hunt, finally landing a job with a steep learning curve, and finding and moving into a new apartment), but that would involve making excuses, which is probably what led me to neglect my blog since late Spring in the first place.

Now that I have high-speed wireless Internet service at my place (another excuse not to blog bites the dust), I will do my utmost to set aside time to write here on a semi-regular (i.e not once every 5-6 months) basis. While I don’t have anything particularly meaty at the moment, here are some issues and questions I’ve been thinking about lately, which means that I may address some of them here in the near-future:

- The American Apparel dilemma, for those looking for sweatshop-free clothing yet aren’t supportive of Dov Charney’s sleazy work environment and anti-unionism.

- Has Michael Moore’s Sicko advanced the health care debate? When will the American public's outrage reach a tipping point?

- Why does the Democratic Party continue to kowtow to Bush and the Republican minority?

- The flap over Barack Obama failing to wear an American flag on his lapel.

- The apology that so many pundits and talking heads owe Al Gore, who has turned out to be right about everything for which he has been ridiculed over the years.

- The African nation of Gabon, a primary source of manganese and one of the most prosperous, and least known, nations in Africa.

Talk to you soon,

SHP

P.S. Don’t forget to vote on Tuesday, Nov. 6th in your local elections.

Ten Great Musical Moments in Film and Television

Unlike most of those who came of age in the Eighties, I was never a big fan of music videos. While I can appreciate a well-crafted or interesting video concept, be it Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” or The Beastie Boys’ Spike Jonze-directed “Sabotage”, I don’t like to have a song’s accompanying imagery dictated to me by its video; for example, every time I hear “Once in a Lifetime”, David Byrne slapping his forehead and arching backwards (“Same as it ever was…”) pops into my head, rather than imagery (or lack thereof) that would have occurred of its own accord. That being said, I am fond of well-placed songs in film and television series (I fully realize that this contradicts my aversion to MTV, but as Tony Soprano would say, what are you gonna do?).

Here are ten striking uses of song in film and TV, with video if available. Please feel free to add your favorites to the comments section.

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t watched The West Wing series and plan to do so, please don’t read the commentary for entry # 8. Likewise, you may want to skip # 3 if you haven’t yet experienced HBO’s Six Feet Under.

1. “Late at Night” – Buffalo Tom, in My So-Called Life, Episode 12 (“Self-Esteem”)

Jordan Catalano has been keeping his relationship with Angela Chace a secret, limiting their meetings to make-out sessions in the school boiler room. When Angela hears that Buffalo Tom will be playing at a local club, and that Jordan will be there, she can’t resist going. Jordan, shooting pool with his mates, blows her off. As Angela runs off, devastated, Buffalo Tom plays the aching “Late at Night”, a perfect accompaniment to teenage emotions running high. Later on in English class, when Mr. Katimsky reads Shakespeare’s Sonnet # 130 (“My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun…”), Jordan realizes the error of his ways, in failing to appreciate Angela.



Determined to make things right, he strolls up to Angela at her locker and takes her hand as they walk down the hallway, while all the characters look on. Cue “Late at Night” redux, bringing closure to a powerful episode, and roll credits.



2. “S.O.S." – ABBA, in Tillsammans (Together)

The setting is an angst-ridden Swedish hippy commune in the mid-1970s. One snowy afternoon, all of the film's various isolated and lonely characters join in a pick-up soccer game, one by one. The first piano notes of “S.O.S.” kick in, and the game builds into a crescendo of joyous collisions, tackles, hugging, and frolicking in the snow. It is one of the most genuine and human scenes ever filmed. Each time I see it, I temporarily have hope for the human race. Who would’ve thought that an ABBA song could be so poignant and unironic?

3. “Come and Find Me” – Josh Ritter, in Six Feet Under, Season 3, Episode 6 (“Making Love Work”)

Nate and Lisa’s shotgun marriage is becoming strained and precarious. As they and their daughter Maya are returning to Los Angeles from a camping weekend, and Nate returns Lisa’s “I love you” with an uncertain “I love you, too”, the moody Nick Drake-esque guitar pluckings of Josh Ritter’s “Come and Find Me” reflect the brooding couple’s uncertain future.

4. “Sleeping Angel” – Stevie Nicks, in Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Mike Damone is scrounging to call in debts from his ticket-scalping customers in a desperate effort to pay for one half of Stacey’s abortion, to no avail. Most of Fast Times' soundtrack consists of studio-mandated soft rock, unfortunately, and while Stevie Nicks certainly fits into this category, the forlorn “Sleeping Angel” somehow works with this scene. As Damone wrestles with his conscience, he glances at two iconic rock images: Annie Liebowitz’ portrait of Pete Townshend, head in bloody hand, and the cover of Elvis Costello’s Trust . Though Nicks is no Townshend or Costello, somehow they all mesh for this moment of onscreen pathos.

5. “La Marseillaise” - Patrons at Rick's Café Americain, in Casablanca

As Nazi officers start singing a Third Reich song in Rick’s Café Americain, fugitive Resistance leader Victor Laszlo instructs the band to play the French national anthem. Rick (Bogie, elegant in a white dinner jacket) nods OK, and Laszlo leads the band in a stirring rendition, the whole club joining in to drown out the fascists. This scene is a testament to peoples’ longing for freedom and democracy, in stark contrast to Bush’s hollow pronouncements, and it brings a tear to my eye every time. They don’t make movies like this anymore.



6. “Purple Rain” – Prince and the Revolution, in Purple Rain

The hilarious conceit in this film is that "The Kid"'s live show was ever considered sub-par by the club owner at all, considering that Prince Rogers Nelson was, and remains, the top live act in the world. "Purple Rain" is simply the greatest ballad in rock history, and here we get it performed live, at the height of Prince’s powers; “Stairway to Heaven”, “Bridge Over Troubled Waters”, “Hey Jude”, and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” pale in comparison. Prince wins over his nemesis Morris Day and the club owner, and wins back Apollonia, while getting the rest of the motley '80s Minneapolis audience to raise their hands. He also finally gives Wendy and Lisa their props for coming up with the opening guitar chords, and he pays tribute to his troubled and talented father, a composer who’d recently committed suicide.

Prince never wanted to be our weekend lover; after he topped the film, album and singles charts, we loved him every day of the week.



7. “God Only Knows” – The Beach Boys, in Boogie Nights

One of pop music’s great love songs comes at a time in the film when Don Cheadle’s Buck and his fellow porn-industry workers are moving on with their lives, starting businesses and families, and pursuing their non-porn-industry dreams. The Beach Boys lend an air of sweetness and light to the otherwise seedy world of San Fernando Valley adult entertainment.



8. “Hallelujah” – Jeff Buckley, in The West Wing, Season 3, Episode 21 (“Posse Comitatus”)

C.J. Craig and Mark Harmon’s Secret Service agent have started a love affair, but he’s gunned down during an off-duty attempt to thwart a convenience-store armed robbery. Jeff Buckley’s sublime Leonard Cohen cover provides the proper air of sadness and solemnity to C.J.’s shock and grief at hearing the news of his death.



9. “It Was a Very Good Year” – Frank Sinatra, in The Sopranos, Season 2, Episode 1 (“Guy Walks Into a Psychiatrist’s Office”)

This elegiac, classy Sinatra tune (my favorite in Frank’s catalog) is perfect for a great recap of Season 1. We see what the New Jersey and New York families have been up to, in their business and personal affairs, and The Voice lends Old World elegance to the proceedings.



10. “Duettino: [‘Sull’aria…’] – ‘Che soave zeffiretto’” – Deutschen Oper Berlin, in The Shawshank Redemption

Shawshank falls into a category I call “Quality Feel-Good Movies” (see also Good Will Hunting and High Fidelity). Tim Robbins’ character, having ingratiated himself to the prison warden and gained access to his office, decides to commandeer the prison stereo and crank this angelic aria from Mozart’s Le Nozze Di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) so that all the savage beasts can be soothed, even if only for a few moments. It’s a simple scene, with close-ups of inmates being taken to some better place as they fall under the duet’s spell; but once again, as with all of the scenes in this list, the sum of the music and the visuals is greater than the individual parts.



HONORABLE MENTIONS:
"When I Fall In Love With You (It Will Be Forever)" - Stevie Wonder (High Fidelity)
"I Melt With You" - Modern English and "A Million Miles Away" - The Plimsouls (Valley Girl)
"Fight the Power" - Public Enemy (Do the Right Thing)
"Head Over Heels" - Tears For Fears (Donnie Darko)
"Just Like Honey" - The Jesus and Mary Chain (Lost in Translation)
"Try a Little Tenderness" - Otis Redding (Pretty in Pink)
"A Perfect Day" - Lou Reed and "Born Slippy" - Underworld (Trainspotting)
"I'm Going Home" - Tim Curry (The Rocky Horror Picture Show)
"In Spite of Me" - Morphine (Spanking the Monkey)
"Living For the City" - Stevie Wonder (Jungle Fever)

Wisdom From a College Notebook

Because of my obsession with recycling and conserving resources, I have a stockpile of scratch paper, much of it consisting of half-used notebooks from my college years.

While using one specimen, which carbon dating revealed to be about 12 years old, I came across an unexpected gem. Amongst the random names and phone numbers of long-forgotten classmates with whom I must have collaborated on English and Opera Appreciation (!) projects (Graham, Ann, Angie, Jared, Bobbie, and Angela, I hardly knew ye!), opera references ("La Boeheme", Benjamin Britten's "Peter Grimes" and Alfredo Catalani's "La Wally"), dates and places, and a reminder that a paper was due on Nov. 18th (before Thanksgiving Break, for English 370, which was held in HU349), I found this amazing quote, which I had carefully written out:

"My dancing, my drinking, and singing weave me the mat on which my soul will sleep in the world of spirits"

- Old Man of Halmahera, Indonesia

I have no idea where I heard this, but I can understand why I took the time to write it in my notebook. What a fantastic sentiment. "Life is short" has been bandied about to the point of cliche', but it's all too true. I shall put this quote up in my computer room, giving the wise Old Man of Halmahera, Indonesia full credit, of course.

Why Does Adam Ant Look Like Darth Maul?

"Like a normal outdoor market in Indiana in the summertime"

Does going to a normal outdoor market in Indiana in the summertime require a security detail consisting of a company of soldiers in armored Humvees, and attack helicopters circling overhead?

Does John McCain, the so-called "maverick", "straight-talking", "independent" Republican presidential candidate, honestly believe that things are improving in Iraq? Or is this happy talk a necessary part of his all-or-nothing presidential strategy to support the Iraq War no matter what, facts on the ground be damned? Did Saint McCain actually talk to the beleaguered Iraqi merchants quoted in this piece? If so, did he hear what they were saying?

Whether he suffers from a bad case of Beltway myopia or just plain senility, John McCain will never be president, barring another Supreme Court-facilitated coup d'état. They say we should never say never, but I'm saying never.

What about Rudy Giuliani or Mitt Romney?

This should kill Rudy's chances with puritanical America:



As far as Romney is concerned, many of the same folks who frown upon cross-dressing also think Mormonism is a cult rather than a Protestant denomination. Ergo, no Republican can win the presidency in 2008.

You read it here at Secret Hug Pro.

My Top 10 Sad Songs (in alphabetical order)

1. "Why Won't You Stay" - American Music Club
Mark Eitzel, doing what he does best: laying his soul bare and making you feel his pain.

2. "St. Swithin's Day" - Billy Bragg
Thanks all the same
But I just can't bring myself to answer your letters
It's not your fault
But your honesty touches me like a fire
The Polaroids that hold us together
Will surely fade away
Like the love that we spoke of forever
On St. Swithin's Day

3. "If You See Her, Say Hello" - Bob Dylan
And though our separation
It pierced me to the heart
She still lives inside of me
We've never been apart

4. "I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You" - Colin Hay
The former Men at Work frontman proves he's no '80s has-been with this lovely ballad (props to Zach Braff for including it in Garden State)

5. "Crawling" - Cheri Knight
Knight is a criminally-overlooked country/folk singer from Massachusetts. Her second and final album, 1998's The Northeast Kingdom, is a masterpiece. This track is a duet with the Goddess of Duets, Emmylou Harris, and if you're not crying in your beer by the end, you probably have some emotional blockage.

6. "How to Say Goodbye" - The Magnetic Fields
I'm overjoyed to hear about your wedding
I'm writing you to wish you every blessing
I'm overjoyed to hear about your wedding
I'm writing you to wish you every blessing
And I'm so happy I could cry
Oh baby, you know how to say goodbye

7. "River" - Joni Mitchell
I'm so hard to handle
I'm selfish and I'm sad
Now I've gone and lost the best baby
That I ever had

8. "Walking On a Wire" - Richard and Linda Thompson
I wish I could please you tonight
By my medicine just won't come out right

9. "16 Days" - Whiskeytown
I got 16 days
15 and those are nights
Can't sleep when the bedsheet fights
Its way back to your side

10. "One By One" - Wilco
One by one my hair is turning grey
One by one my dreams are fading fast away
One by one I read your letters over
One by one I lay them all away

"Never be frightened at your own faint-heartedness in attaining love."

“…I believe that you are sincere and good at heart. If you do not attain happiness, always remember that you are on the right road, and try not to leave it. Above all, avoid falsehood, every kind of falsehood, especially falseness to yourself. Watch over your own deceitfulness and look into it every hour, every minute. Avoid being scornful, both to others and to yourself. What seems to you bad within you will grow purer from the very fact of your observing it in yourself. Avoid fear, too, though fear is only the consequence of every sort of falsehood. Never be frightened at your own faint-heartedness in attaining love. Don’t be frightened overmuch even at your evil actions. I am sorry I can say nothing more consoling to you, for love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams. Love in dreams is greedy for immediate action, rapidly performed and in the sight of all. Men will even give their lives if only the ordeal does not last long but is soon over, with all looking on and applauding as though on the stage. But active love is labour and fortitude…”

Fyodor Dostoevsky, “The Brothers Karamazov” (which I still need to finish after a long hiatus)

Thus begins Hal Hartley’s short yet powerful 1991 film Surviving Desire, which I just re-watched. One of Hartley’s great strengths is unconventional screenwriting. Dialogue which initially seems like nothing more than pretentious literary references and psychobabble from the mouths of bored, disaffected slackers, bohemians and grad students slowly but surely gets under one’s skin and wields significant emotional power.

In addition to utilizing characters as vessels for interesting passages from classical literature, as with the Dostoevsky quote above, Hartley’s characters engage in circular, repetitive exchanges, or simply repeat fragments of dialogue a number of times, giving the viewer license to interpret its meaning on multiple levels. For instance, a couple of times in the film, Sophie, a bookstore clerk, stands in the middle of the store, surrounded by customers walking by and ignoring her repeated, timid attempts at service: “Can I help someone? Does anyone need any assistance? Does anyone need any help?” Like the conversations on continuous loop, her attempts to reach out, consistently rebuffed, speak to a larger truth, namely how difficult it is to connect with, and truly know, other people.

Hartley returns to the themes of loneliness and isolation again and again in his films (see also Trust and Simple Men); yet one is left with an odd sense of hope at the end of each. His characters, despite their preternatural awareness of their own short-comings and the absurdity of life, continue striving to connect with others, unfrightened at their own faint-heartedness in attaining love. Ultimately, Hartley is a humanist, and he clearly cares for his neurotic characters, who survive desire and thus give us hope as we bumble through our own lives and relationships in search of human connections and understanding.

Please allow me to introduce myself...

Hi there,

I've finally started my own blog, in an effort to distinguish myself from the masses. My newly-acquired uniqueness brings to mind this bit from Steve Martin's brilliant 1978 album, A Wild and Crazy Guy:

"Now let's repeat the non-conformists' oath: I promise to be different! (audience repeats) I promise to be unique! (audience repeats) I promise not to repeat things other people say! (audience laughs, repeats) Good!"

I look forward to weighing in on a variety of subjects, news reports, polls, films, trends, and all manner of pop-cultural flotsam and jetsam. I hope you will weigh in as well, via the comments field.

Finally, I want to give a shout-out to my friends and intrepid blog pioneers: PBR Chicken, Non_Seq, Binulatti, and The Westering Hills. Check out their blogs.

SHP