City water customers may experience rusty water Monday, July 12
City of Boulder water customers around the University of Colorado’s main campus may notice discolored or “rusty” water on Monday, July 12, when the Utilities Division and the University of Colorado conduct a hydrant flow test on campus.
There are no known health hazards associated with rusty water. However, due to the unpleasant taste, it is recommended that water users wait until the water has cleared before drinking it.
Running several cold water taps at full force for a short period may help flush the rusty water out more quickly. A general recommendation is to flush for 20 minutes, then if the water is not clear, wait for an hour before flushing for 20 minutes again. To conserve this water, you may collect it and use it on plants or landscaping. It is also recommended to avoid doing laundry during the rusty water event, as the rust can stain clothing, and to avoid using hot water to prevent sediment from entering a hot water heater.
For more information, residents can contact the city’s Public Works Department at 303-441-3200.
Municipal court closed for part of Friday, July 9
The Boulder Municipal Court will be closed from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Friday, July 9, for a staff meeting.
The City of Boulder Parks and Recreation Department and University of Colorado at Boulder are participating in a workshop on natural turf management this week. The workshop is being taught by Chip Osborne, one of the nation’s leading experts on natural turf management. This training is part of an effort by the university and the city to enhance the quality of turf while continuing to use no or very little herbicides for weed control.
Staff from the city and CU will learn about the Osborne Organics’ “Systems Approach to Natural Turf Management,” which focuses on details of organic pest control.
“The knowledge we gain from this training could help the city and CU continue to reduce the amount of chemical pesticides used on public property, while improving the quality and playability of our parks and athletic field turf,” said City of Boulder Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Coordinator, Rella Abernathy.
In addition to the workshop, staff from CU and the city will participate in “field days” where Osborne will join them at selected locations to help with site-specific management strategies.
“Throughout much of the campus, we’ve already implemented the use of an organic fertilizer manufactured by Richlawn — made of dry poultry waste, sea kelp and molasses — and we are eager to work with the city to explore other non-chemical options,” said John Morris, CU director of facilities operations. “This partnership and training is really to continue to address what we’ve heard from CU students and Boulder community members, who’ve expressed their strong support of natural solutions to turf management.”
Non-chemical methods also are the core of the City of Boulder’s pest (including weeds) management strategies. The City of Boulder’s IPM policy*, which has been in place since 1993 (and was updated in 2002), focuses on reducing chemical methods of pest and weed control on city-owned lands by only allowing a limited number of pesticides to be used once other methods have proven either not plausible or ineffective.
“While the city already strives to use as few chemical treatments on our property as possible, we are hopeful that this workshop will introduce us to new tools for weed and turf management that are effective, safe for the environment and work within city staffing and budget constraints,” said Abernathy.
This training is not open to the public.
* The City of Boulder IPM Policy only applies to city-owned property.
Boulder County, Colo. – The Boulder County Transportation Department will hold a public information and comment session on the 2010 Boulder County Multimodal Transportation Standards.
The session will be held on Tuesday, July 13 from 5-6:30 p.m. in the Administrative Services Training Room of the Boulder County Courthouse, East Wing, at 2025 14th St. in Boulder.
The Transportation Standards guide the implementation of public and private transportation facilities, including transportation-related requirements for development, within unincorporated Boulder County.
A draft document of the Boulder County Multimodal Transportation Standards is available on the Transportation Department’s website. For more information, please contact Lesley Swirhun at 720-564-2656 or lswirhun@bouldercounty.org.
-BoulderCounty.org-
Special to Boulder Channel 1
by Rob Smoke
Law Maker Or Law Breaker?
Thoughts on Michael Bennett
I rode down from the mountains on July 3rd to check out my town — my little town or little city or whatever you want to call it. I grew up in the middle of New York City, a few blocks from Madison Square Garden and the Empire State Building, so I don’t really regard it as derogatory to call Boulder “my little town”; however, on Saturday I was reminded of its smallness, and I don’t mean that in a good way.
What did I see from my window on the “N” bus? Michael Bennett yard signs. Scores of them, maybe as many as 200 as I surveyed the scene. Not held in the hands of supporters, which would be a fine and noble way to display affection for the candidate — no, these yard signs — actual yard signs inveigling votes from people — were stuck in the ground in the public right-of-way. They covered the edges of all the lawns on the municipal park space starting at 13th, by the Farmer’s Market, and extending at least until the steps of the library, several blocks away, with many along the strip of grassy space along Canyon.
Some industrious campaign workers got their gumption up and stuck these signs pretty much wherever they could — which turned out to be everywhere….but all within the public right-of-way.
Actually, kid you not, there’s a law against this — it’s in the Boulder Municipal Code — it’s part of our charter. We’re supposed to uphold the laws as written in that charter, but apparently sometimes that doesn’t seem necessary. You can look all of it up on the web — signs of any sort are not to be displayed except where allowed by permit. Also, it is a strictly prohibited use of public space — candidates for local office hear about it from the get-go when running for office.
I didn’t make any of this up. These signs of Bennett’s… they simply are not supposed to encroach — whether it’s for a month, a day or a minute. To suggest that with all those signs out there, and Bennett well aware of where he’s speaking, that he also does not know that the placement of those yard signs is in violation of the law is a little absurd. In any case, it’s his responsibility to know; and a more even-tempered look at the circumstances suggests that he knows full well. Yeah…he gets away with infractions of the law because he’s “Michael Bennett”.
I have this to say to Mr. Bennett: I’m sure you’re a swell guy, but you have a sucky attitude. You may have supporters in Boulder, but if you’re coming in here to tout yourself as a law maker, and you’re not aware of how you’re violating our local laws — violating the municipal code which mirrors the codes of other cities you’ll be visiting — then you’re simply a fraud.
People who want to vote for a law breaker as our next Federal law maker, may find you a preferable choice. It’s unfortunate we have people who think that way here in Boulder, but I do not think they represent the majority. I think the majority are people who understand the significance of the public-right-of-way, even if that significance is mezzo mezzo in their daily lives. It’s just a basic principle: protect public space from abuse.
Our city attorney and city council decided — I would judge “smilingly” — to avoid the issue when it was brought before them at the Tuesday July 6 council meeting. Whatever risk the Bennett campaign may have felt it was incurring as it put all the yard signs in place was tempered by the knowledge that the city council and higher echelon city staff would be disinclined to call them on abuse of the public right-of-way. Predictable? Well, maybe. However, registered Democrats, one and all, might want to consider whether their vote is as disposable as our local laws are to candidate Bennett.
Rob Smoke has been a writer for the Daily Camera, past chair of Boulder Human Relations Council and a long time observer of politics. He lives in Boulder
Editor:
I was a little disgusted to see scores of campaign signs for Michael Bennet littering pretty much all of our downtown city park area on July 3rd, the day of his local appearance. I’m talking about an area including the lawns outside of the downtown library and the areas adjacent to the street. The signs were staked to the ground and were not held by living humans.
The encroachment of posted signs in the public right of way (which includes the above areas) is prohibited under Section 8-6-3 of the Boulder municipal code. The Bennet campaign should have been ticketed for a crime that would pretty much instantly entitle anyone else on the planet to a ticket. The fact that he’s presently in office, or has money to spend, or is a swell guy…has absolutely zero to do with the law.
People who support law breakers writing our laws are hereby invited to vote for Bennet. By the way, there were police present who did nothing to correct the situation when informed.
Rob Smoke
2445 19th Street, Apt. B
Boulder, Co. 80304
720-982-2439
Deadline extended for Multicultural Awards nominations
Boulder County, Colo. – The Boulder County Community Action Program (CAP) is seeking nominations for the 22nd Annual Multicultural Awards Banquet to be held Oct. 7.
The banquet recognizes people of different ethnic backgrounds who have made significant contributions to Boulder County in the areas of arts, business, community service, education, government, health, youth (19 years and under), science and partners. “Partners” seeks a person from the white/anglo community who works with people of color to promote social justice around race issues.
Nomination forms are available by calling CAP at 303-441-3976, or by accessing CAP’S web site at:www.bouldercountycap.org and selecting Nomination Forms from left side bar. Nominations must be returned to the CAP office by: July 1.The theme for the banquet, “Cross the Bridge and Join Together,” is particularly appropriate in a ceremony that bridges cultural differences. This event sends a positive message to the community and shows young people successful role models making a difference in the community. Proceeds from the banquet provide scholarships for multicultural students.
Last year’s award recipients were: Arts – Troy Burrell, Business – Omar Postigo-Martell, Community Services – Kathleen Martindale, Education – Anissa Butler, Government – LuAnna Allapowa, Health – Nick Robles, Partners – Lee and Beverly Springer, Science – Christine Yoshinaga-Itano, and Youth – Felicia Wright Perez and Gabriel Lopez. -bouldercounty.org-
Household Hazardous Waste facility to be closed July 3
Boulder County, Colo. – The Boulder County Household Hazardous Waste facility will be closed on Saturday, July 3 for the observance of Independence Day. The facility will resume its regular schedule on Wednesday, July 7.
The HHW facility is regularly open from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, and from 8 a.m. to noon on Fridays and Saturdays. Reusable products are also available to the public during these hours.
Before delivering any waste, residents are advised to call the HHW facility’s hotline at 303-441-4800 for closure information. The outdoor nature of the collection facility results in occasional closures due to extreme weather, including below freezing temperatures, temperatures above 98 degrees Fahrenheit, rain, snow, high winds and lightning storms.
The HHW facility is located at the Western Disposal Services waste transfer station at 5880 Butte Mill Road in Boulder. More information about the HHW program is available at www.bouldercountyrecycles.net or by calling the Boulder County Resource Conservation Division at 720-564-2220.
Clean Air Challenge: Pledge to reduce summer ozone and greenhouse gas emissions
Any individual living, working or traveling in Boulder County this summer is invited to participate in the Summer Clean Air Challenge, an innovative program to reduce summer ozone and greenhouse gas emissions.
It’s easy! June 23 through August 31, leave your car at home and take the challenge to use clean commute options for your daily travels.
Take the pledge to reduce your personal vehicle trips once a week or more and you will be entered into a drawing to win a Grand Prize worth $500, a $100 runner-up prize and many more prizes just for participating. Anyone can win!
Instead of driving, try one of these clean commute options:
Bicycle
Carpool
Ride transit
Vanpool
Telework
Walk
How it works:
To make the pledge, visit www.bouldercountyair.org and click on the “Clean Air Challenge.”
Complete the online pledge form and track your alternative travel trips throughout the summer.
Bi-weekly e-mail reminders will prompt you to enter your trip reductions.
Prizes will be awarded throughout the summer for entering your points and participating the entire summer.
For commute options information, incentives and resources, visit 36commutingsolutions.org.
Take the Summer Clean Air Challenge. Choose to drive less for cleaner air!
287 Century Circle, Suite 103
Louisville, CO 80027
p: 303-604-4383
f: 303-223-2887
36commutingsolutions.org
audrey@36commutingsolutions.org
BOULDER BIRD MAN
Wild Bird Center Saturday Walks:
From 7:30 am (promptly)
to 9:45 am (approximately)
Every Saturday year-round.
Photo Credits
We couldn’t have done this without you! Twenty-one years is a long time in anyone’s book and we owe our success to you — our customers, compatriots, fellow birders, and friends. A hearty thank you to you all!
Steve, Wendy, Marlene, & Bill Contact Information
Steve Frye, Owner . Wild Bird Center Boulder
1641-28th Street
Boulder, CO 80301
(303) 442-1322
As a child in the 60’s, I remember sitting in my parents’ dining room looking out at the huge, cumbersome and wonderful bird feeder that sat in the backyard. I can still recall how the cardinals and blue jays swooped up to land and grab a sunflower seed. It was a large glass globe that screwed onto a metal tray and sat on top of a pole. Because it was made of glass and was large, it weighed a ton even without seed in it. I’m sure it must have gone empty at times just because it was difficult to fill. No feeders manufactured today are built like that one, and for good reason.
Since I am in the bird feeding industry, I often have thought about the history and evolution of bird feeding in this country. Indeed, I feel that the Boulder Store has been part of that history. When I opened the Wild Bird Center of Boulder in January 1989 there were no bird feeding specialty stores in the mountain west and very few on the west coast. Now there are about 10 bird feeding specialty stores just in Colorado. For many years after I opened the store, people would comment ‘can you even feed birds in the West?’, assuming that it was only a mid-west and east coast activity.
I recently received a copy of “Feeding Wild Birds: A Short History in America” by Paul Baicich, Margaret Barker, and Carrol Henderson. This is a fascinating little book which answered many of my questions about how much and how little has changed in the bird feeding industry and in attitudes about wild birds
The article below highlights some of these topics;
In the late 19th century the attitudes towards birds as a natural resource, commodity, or just an abundant, expendable entity were vastly different than our attitudes today. Cardinals were commonly trapped, caged, and sent off as pet birds. American Robins which we often dismiss as being common and abundant were becoming rare because they were apparently good eating. We all know the fate of the Passenger Pigeon which was playing out at this time mostly due to market hunting. The feather trade to adorn clothing and hats was also having devastating results to many species populations including herons and hummingbirds.
Amidst these attitudes and actions that were having negative impact on bird populations, a small, but growing influence spoke on the birds’ behalf. In June of 1868 the weekly journal of the ‘Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ published a poem titled “Boys, Spare the Birds” which encouraged boys (and girls) to be kind to the birds and feed them in the winter time instead of hurting them and destroying their eggs.
As many of you know, the Audubon Society’s first cause was shutting down the feather trade. The snowy egret population was decimated by the feather trade and the egret’s image remains the symbol for the National Audubon Society today. Mary Thatcher wrote an essay entitled “The Slaughter of the Innocents” in the popular Harper’s Bazaar Magazine in 1875 which further rallied the cause against the feather trade.
Many pamphlets, books, and essays were written towards the end of the 19th century all encouraging people to feed birds, especially in winter, using table scraps and waste grain. One such publication was Dietrich Lange’s 1899 book “Our Native Birds, How to Protect Them and Attract Them to Our Homes” which served as an introduction to the concept of feeding birds for many.
The days of specialty seed mixes and extensive bird food preference research was a long way off in those days, but some companies were starting to take notice of the new pastime. Present day wild bird seed companies Wagner and Kaytee started to cater to the bird feeding hobbyist in the late 19th century. Audubon Park Seed Company in Akron, Colorado a supplier of bird seed to grocery and hardware stores was originally a feed store in Illinois in the 1920’s.
The early articles on bird feeding focused on benevolence toward the birds and had a very paternal tone. They did point out the benefits that people would derive by feeding the birds, but the main current was still feeding thebirds so they could survive coupled with concern about ruining their natural instincts. It wasn’t until 1929 when Charles Shoffner wrote “The Bird Book” which informed people that feeding the birds would not ’spoil’ them or take away their ability to find food on their own. Birds make choices like all animals. If they don’t like what you’re putting out, then they go elsewhere. Many studies have been conducted on feeder dependence since that time and all have shown that birds can benefit from access to feeders, but they do not become dependant on the feeders. This is still a subject that we revisit with our customers daily.
Bird Feeding was a home-grown affair initially. Magazine articles shared information on how to build feeders and houses along with recommendations on what to feed. Table scraps, waste grain, and ‘floor sweepings’ were most often suggested as a means of feeding the birds. Around the turn of the century more mention is made of bird seed preferences and the use of such present day staples as sunflower. Bird-Lore magazine in 1913 ran one of the first advertisements for a bird feeder. It was a weather-vane feeder with pole for $6.00 from Joseph Dodson, director of the Illinois Audubon Society. This same design is still in use today.
Feeding tables and simple hopper style feeders ruled the day until Peter Kilham invented the first tube feeder in 1968. His company, Droll Yankee, was originally founded in 1960 as a nature recording supplier. Peter was a student at the Rhode Island School of Design. After completing a project, he was contemplating what to do with the leftover plastic tubes. From these leftovers the A-6 tube feeder was born. We still sell the A-6 and little has changed with the design since then. Most feeders on the market today are based on the tube feeder. Two of my favorite things, A-6 feeders and the musical group Talking Heads, both came out of the Rhode Island School of Design.
In 1980 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published its most popular pamphlet ever, “Relative Attractiveness of Different Foods at Wild Bird Feeders” by Dr. Aelred “Al” Geis. This study brought real science to the bird feeding industry. Showing the relative attractiveness of various seeds allows one to attract target species and it also showed which seeds to avoid. I had the pleasure of spending the day with Al in 1988 at his home in Maryland and having fresh sunfish sandwiches. Bird feeders, seed, and birds were everywhere around Al’s house. His place was one big bird feeding laboratory. I still rely on that experience and the things that Al taught me.
What’s next in bird feeding? Before his death a few years ago, Al Geis was experimenting with providing fruit flies to attract the insect eaters using rotten fruit. My Compost Tumbler in the back yard is a terrific source of fruit flies so I have been experimenting with this same concept. Is this the next best thing for you to attract birds? Many questions need to be answered before you see rotten fruit feeders showing up at the Wild Bird Center, but wouldn’t it be great to have warblers perched around your feeder?
Baby Bird Season
We have been getting a lot of calls about baby birds like we always do in June. The best advice is to just leave the birds alone. However, if the bird is injured, then you need to call Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center at 303-826-8455 to arrange care for the bird.
Fireworks Start on the Fourth of July
rufous hummingbird
The fireworks we’re talking about are provided by the rufous hummingbirds. Around July 4th male rufous and calliope hummingbirds are returning south through Colorado. Rufous are known for their feisty attitudes and are not always appreciated. This also signals the start of the hummingbird season on the plains so all of you folks in Boulder, Louisville, Longmont, and points east be on the lookout for hummingbirds. Interestingly, the most common hummingbird in my Longmont yard is the calliope, which is generally thought to be the rarest of our three expected hummingbirds.
Rufous Hummingbird by Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds
Ask Steve
Q: How can I keep my bird bath clean?
A: First of all let me say that algae is not harmful to the birds. You may not like the look of it, but the birds are fine with it. Algae is a naturally occurring plant which is found just about everywhere so you need to manage the algae level in the bath because you will never eliminate it. Here are a few tips on managing your algae. Like all plants, algae needs sunlight to grow. If your bath could be located in a spot that does not receive strong afternoon sun, that would help. Also, regular scrubbing and rinsing the bath will help keep the algae from forming a thick layer on your bath. If you have a heavy cement bath there is no need to lift the bath, just put your hose on ‘jet’ and blast the water out. I have a scrub brush outside near my baths and fountain. When they are getting really cruddy looking I just give them a little scrub before blasting out the dirty water. Then it’s a simple matter of filling them back up. For fountains (and baths) you can also add hydrogen peroxide to kill back the algae. Pour in a large amount (i.e. > quart) to your fountain at night. The next morning just rinse your fountain out and refill it. That should knock back the algae for a while. The hydrogen peroxide is harmless to the birds and breaks down into oxygen and water.
If your problem is bird droppings then you can use the same procedures as stated above. Remember, it’s always a good idea to wash your hands well after you fill your feeders or scrub out your bath.
BOULDER MOVIES ON DVD
Happy Fourth of July everyone! In case your weekend plans include a little movie-watching, we have some very worthy new releases this week. Take note that on Sunday, July 4th we’ll be open special holiday hours, from Noon-8pm, so you can still rent your movies before the fireworks start.
For the most part, we enjoyed all the films on this week’s list — and when one of them has a name like “Hot Tub Time Machine”, you know that’s an unexpectedly good thing! Be sure to read our reviews below of the aforementioned comedy starring John Cusak, as well as the Charles Darwin biopic Creation, director Michael Haneke’s Oscar-nominated drama The White Ribbon, the amped up remake of the George Romero cult classic The Crazies, and The Doors documentary When You’re Strange.
And be sure to look through our “New on Blu-Ray” and “Also In This Week” sections for more notable films that we didn’t have a chance to review, like Jet Li’s Warlords and the family fantasy Percy Jackson & the Olympians (which we’ll catch up with in next week’s edition).
CREATION – Reviewed by Will
Biography/Drama
Rated PG-13
2009 marked the anniversaries of two of the greatest milestones in human understanding. 400 years ago last year, Galileo Galilei turned his improved telescopes to the sky and found new evidence that the earth was not the center of the universe. 150 years ago last year, Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species”, which forever revolutionized the study of biology. Both men were confronted–in Galileo’s case, even imprisoned–in their own lifetimes by religious leaders. Throughout last year, both were celebrated in a number of documentaries and retrospectives. In Darwin’s case, two dramatic films were made about the years immediately preceding the publication of “On the Origin of Species”–National Geographic’s stiff but informative Darwin’s Darkest Hour, starring Lost’s Henry Ian Cusick, and the more lavish Creation, starring Paul Bettany (who here almost reprises his Darwin-esque performance as Dr. Maturin in Master and Commander). Creation, however, took a long time to find a distributor here in the States and ultimately received a very modest theatrical release. Like Alejandro Amenabar’s recent (and more provocative) Agora, its American success has no doubt been muted by fear of the religious backlash which is too often characteristic of our culture.
As much as Darwin is demonized by the religious right, it is important to note that he was extremely conflicted about publishing his controversial work, and very troubled, in fact, by the cruelty of the universe he was trying to make sense of. Creation’s focus is on this internal conflict, and its first half is surprisingly melancholy and psychological. Bettany’s Darwin is haunted by hallucinations of his recently deceased daughter and can’t stop dwelling on the violence and chaos he perceives in nature. The film, eager to slip inside his tormented mind, brings the audience along as he imagines, for instance, a baby bird dying and being consumed by the insects and maggots that its mother was feeding it with just minutes earlier. These sequences are the sort of thing one might expect from David Cronenberg or Werner Herzog, and are not often seen in a stately period biopic. Not only are they bold for this reason, but also because such scenes express what some find so frightening about so-called Darwinism. Kudos to the filmmakers for acknowledging this in so potent a fashion.
Later on, as Darwin engages more deeply with his wife and confronts his grief over his daughter’s death, a more contemplative and redemptive tone prevails. I found the film’s depiction of a non-believer’s grief particularly resonant. Creation is certainly not the first film I’ve seen that makes the argument that faith can be distinguished from religious belief, but it makes it particularly well. Darwin’s religious wife Emma is played by Bettany’s real-life wife Jennifer Connelly, and their relationship has an honesty and comfort to it that benefits tremendously from the leads’ natural chemistry. The external pressures on Darwin to publish or repent are offered by excellent supporting players Toby Jones and Jeremy Northam, as Thomas Huxley and Reverend John Innes, respectively. Their prickliness and pushiness reflect the tragic animosities that sometimes occur between friends separated by dogma. Ultimately, though, the film lives and dies on Bettany’s performance, and he carries it all the way. – [DVD]
New This Week:
THE WHITE RIBBON – Reviewed by A.I.
Drama/Mystery
Unrated
For a filmmaker who has fashioned a career out of dissecting the savage torpor of modern existence, Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon comes as something of an oddity. A story of strange occurrences in a tiny German hamlet on the eve of WWI, the film carries with it a bundle of theatrical firsts for the Austrian-born director: first film presented in black and white; first film constructed around a romance; first film done in period. (I’m excusing 1997’s adaptation of Franz Kafka’s The Castle, as it was made for television (soft leg to stand on, I’ll admit), and was itself anomalous to Haneke’s obsession with more modern afflictions. However, the argument can be made that Haneke is Kafka’s spiritual successor, when the obligations to society and law are synonymous.)
It is a surprise to this viewer that the director carries off these new challenges rather effortlessly. The decision to use black and white has a number of implications and visually connects the film to the pastorals of Ingmar Bergman. Going beyond mere facade, The White Ribbon owes a debt to the philosophical struggles of The Seventh Seal and the narrative construction of Wild Strawberries. One can easily imagine Haneke’s schoolteacher protagonist growing up to become Bergman’s backward-glancing Dr. Isak Borg, and the whole of The White Ribbon’s mystery falling somewhere between remembrances of a young Bibi Andersson and the reception of an honorary degree. That Haneke’s film was actually shot in color and then desaturated to its present starkness befits the cloistered lives of the characters who populate his little German hamlet, who have had their vivacity chaffed from them by various powers that be. More likely, though, since this technical sleight of hand is only occasionally noticeable in the film itself, the choice of using black and white was made to emphasize the extreme polarity of the world in which the story unfolds. It is the black and white of the feudal system, of lord and land, the black and white of the Protestant church, as hammered down by the village pastor. It is the culmination of generations of rigid ideology that will lead a German people faithfully, thoughtlessly to this story’s ultimate conclusion, twenty-five years beyond the final frame.
Yet somehow within the stockades of this obdurate world, there is space for romance to grow, however furtively. The courtship between the schoolteacher, played by Christian Friedel, and the Baroness’s nanny, Eva, blushingly portrayed by Leonie Benesch, is one of the more touching and genuine relationships I’ve ever come across in a film. That this love, which blooms quietly amid a rash of barn burnings, suicides and ritualistic shamings, was written and directed by the same man responsible for The Piano Teacher is nearly unthinkable. It is only when taken alongside the tragedies composing the film’s central mystery that this relationship assumes the bittersweet tinge familiar to Haneke’s work. As with Juliette Binoche and Thierry Neuvic in the masterful Code Unknown, their embrace is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness. Still, when stripped of everything else, the swirling image of Eva and the schoolteacher waltzing clumsily at the harvest celebration—eins, zwei, drei, eins, zwei, drei—remains an indelible one, containing both the ballet of Ophuls and the charmed nostalgia of early Truffaut. For narrator and audience alike, it is one of only a handful of moments in The White Ribbon of whose truth we can be certain.
Technically speaking, the film is quite breathless, and might be the crown jewel of any other director’s career. The composition is precise, the period met head on. It is easily the most accessible and palatable of Haneke’s works (please, start here and not with something like Funny Games, lest you be completely put off). It won the Palm d’Or at Cannes last year and was nominated as best foreign-language film at the Academy Awards, and deservedly so. But Michael Haneke, more than most, does not make films to win awards; he would sooner twist a boutonniere through your heart. Michael Haneke makes films to challenge his audience. He has an inimitable knack for finding a raw nerve and latching hold of it for two hours at a time, and when he lets go, an ache you never knew was there before lingers on for days. This is not to say that The White Ribbon is devoid of challenge, that it is easy. Far from it. But I do feel that its crisp veneer, its exaction of time and place, are a detriment to its overall impact.
Since seeing the film in the theater this past winter I’ve wrestled with Haneke’s decision to present his story under such well-worn historical circumstances, and I’ve come to understand it as an attempt at the elemental. Whereas the majority of his films deal with the ways in which we have been alienated from others and ourselves by media (71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance), technology (Cache), and patterns of cowed repetition (The Seventh Continent), The White Ribbon tries to move beyond the symptoms to the sickness itself. What that sickness is exactly is difficult to say. In the present film it lies somewhere between idea and ideology, the point at which rationality gives way to fundamentalism. It is the tendency for people in meager moral, spiritual or financial situations to grasp hold of something absolutely as a means of righting themselves. “In the name of a beautiful idea,” Haneke said in a New Yorker article last fall, “you can become a murderer.” Where fortitude flags, ideology bolsters. Nowhere does this seem truer than with the small German community in The White Ribbon. Especially susceptible to this reasoning are the town’s children, whose wide watchful eyes are a common motif, and whose hands, it can be inferred, orchestrate the majority of the film’s violence.
It is with these children, however, that Haneke loses what he is working toward. By rooting his examination of why we do wrong in the generation that would grow into the Third Reich, the universality of what he discovers can be brushed off as a uniquely German problem. Audiences are able to step back from the events of the film, point an obvious finger at nascent Nazism, and walk out of the theater relatively unscathed. This disconnect is only amplified by the strong historical aesthetic. Whether a similar distillation of human nature could have been reached under more modern circumstances remains, like the film itself, a mystery. Perhaps our lives are simply too cluttered in the twenty-first century to exist in high-contrast black and white. But as it stands now, when subtext to an audience is ninety percent context, The White Ribbon exists as a finely chiseled headstone beneath a century of glass: curious, morbid, oddly familiar, but ultimately the designation of someone else’s bones. – [DVD]
NEW ON BLU-RAY
The Crazies (2010) – [imdb]
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) – [imdb]
The Leopard (Il gattopardo) (1963) – [imdb]
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010) – [imdb]
Warlords (2007) – [imdb]
THE CRAZIES – Reviewed by David
Mystery/Sci-Fi/Thriller
Rated R
Something in an Iowa farming community’s water is turning the townsfolk into homicidal maniacs. So goes the scenario of director Breck Eisner’s effectively frightening redo of George Romero’s 1973 virus-run-amuck classic The Crazies.
The town sheriff (Timothy Olyphant, one my new favorite actors) makes the discovery, after which he, along with his pregnant doctor wife (Radha Mitchell) and deputy (Joe Anderson), decides to hightail it out of the place while fighting off the infected and eluding the military.
While the original was meant to be some sort of indictment against the military, the deepest this one really gets is Olyphant’s brief anguish over having to kill a local man. Like other recent remakes of ‘70s horror flicks, it’s a slicked-up scare machine, complete with satellite views of the town, cars flipping over or blowing up, and some CGI, in particular the spectacular fireball near the end.
But I didn’t mind the better production values, because Eisner (Sahara) actually manages to make the movie scary, from the excellently eerie early goings–I’ve never seen a thresher look so threatening–to the subsequent tense and bloody mayhem. One of the better scenes has Mitchell tied down to a bed as one of the title nut jobs starts stabbing the people around her with a pitchfork.
Even more chilling is the scene in which a woman hides with her son in a closet from her infected, knife-brandishing husband, who then locks them in and sets the house on fire. There’s also a scene that will make you think twice about ever going through a car wash again, and the part where Olyphant desperately scoots away from a runaway bone saw definitely made me squirm.
None of it would have been nearly as enjoyable without Olyphant, whose sturdy presence helps ground the pandemonium somewhat. Brit actor Anderson does a decent job as the increasingly unhinged deputy, while Mitchell (Pitch Black) mostly just annoyed me. All that being said, only a crazy person would watch a blood-spattered movie like this for the emoting. – [DVD] [Blu-Ray]
HOT TUB TIME MACHINE – Reviewed by Jeremy
Comedy/Sci-Fi
Rated R
What would you do if you could go back in time? If you weren’t the social contributor of parties and free beer, otherwise referred to as the nerd, you’d probably completely avoid your youthful years. In Hot Tub Time Machine, John Cusack plays Adam. He is your typical John Cusack character. He’s got a knack for ruining relationships. After he ruins them, though, he’ll repair them or find something else, either by standing under their window or by falling in love with the less than likely character. That’s what happens in this movie. Well mostly.
After a “hot tub malfunction” caused by a night of partying in a hot tub, Adam and his lifelong friends are brought back to the ’80s were they come to realize that they could possibly better their own futures given this bizarre opportunity. This movie can be funny, but it’s really nothing special. I often found myself more entertained by actors Craig Robinson (The Office) and Rob Corddry rather than Cusack himself. The cameo made in Hot Tub Time Machine is good but obvious, the representation of the 80’s was more than OK, and the jokes were generally original. – [DVD] [Blu-Ray]
Rent it here, first!
Did you know that there are quite a few titles that you can rent here at The Video Station, long before you can get them at Netflix? Check out the list below, or posted in the store, to see what other recent and upcoming releases you can find here at the Video Station before our competitors receive them:
Now Available:
I wish I had the time to watch again The Doors (biopic) and read again No One Here Gets Out Alive (biography of The Doors). I could add to this review a comparison of these other treatments of the lives of Jim Morrison and the other Doors. But here’s my stand-alone review of When You’re Strange and I should reveal right off the bat that I have always been a huge Doors fan. So my enjoyment of When You’re Strange was definitely enhanced by my great love of the band.
Let me back up. The writer-director, Tom DiCillo, previously gave us two great (well one great and one very good) movies with Living in Oblivion and Box of Moonlight. Living in Oblivion was of course his masterpiece and you should see it right away if you haven’t already. Box of Moonlight is an early Sam Rockwell film, starring John Turturro as well. And here with this Doors documentary, DiCillo does an excellent job of answering the most interesting questions about Jim and the other band members, and balancing performance footage quite beautifully with clips from the movie Jim shot when he was a film student, and Johnny Depp’s narration. Depp has taken some flack from the critics for being too flat in his delivery, but it worked for me. The focus is definitely on Jim, but others in the group also get some attention: who knew that it was Robbie Krieger who penned “Light My Fire” after playing guitar for only six months?
So When You’re Strange is a chronicle of the band from its inception to its dissolution. It’s well made and engaging, especially for a fan. I’m not sure if a non-fan or someone not familiar with the music would love it as much as I did, so I’ll be interested to hear viewer feedback. And see this movie as soon as possible because, as the song goes, “The future’s uncertain—the end is always near.” – [DVD]
ALSO IN THIS WEEK..
New Documentaries:
Peyote to LSD: A Psychedelic Odyssey (2008-TV) – Documentary – [imdb]
The Queen and I (2008) – Documentary (Sweden) – [imdb]
Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage (2010) – Documentary/Music – [imdb]
A Walk Into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory (2007) – Documentary – [imdb]
When You’re Strange (2009) – Documentary/Music – [imdb]
New and Newly Reissued Foreign Films:
The Eclipse (2009) – Drama/Horror/Romance – (Ireland) – [imdb]
Everlasting Moments (2008) – Drama (Sweden) – [imdb]
The Queen and I (2008) – Documentary (Sweden) – [imdb]
Warlords (2007) – Action/Drama/History/War – (China/Hong Kong) – [imdb]
The White Ribbon (2009) – Drama/Mystery (Austria/Germany/France/Italy) – [imdb]
To read about all the titles available for rent this week, click here for the full list – exclusively on our blog
TV ON DVD – This Week’s New Releases from Television Series
Ben 10 – Alien Force: Volume 7 – [imdb]
The Closer: Season 5 – [imdb]
How The Earth Changed History (BBC-Miniseries) – [allmovie]
St. Urbain’s Horsemen (2007 Miniseries) – [imdb]
The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo – [imdb]
Van Der Valk Mysteries: Set 2 – [i
Next week: Colin Firth in A Single Man, Richard Gere in Brooklyn's Finest, and the Swedish adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Check back for our reviews of all these and more...
Aging Services to offer national fall prevention program
Boulder County, Colo. – Beginning this Tuesday, July 6, Boulder County Aging Services will offer a national fall prevention program called “A Matter of Balance: Managing Concerns About Falls.”
Matter of Balance workshops will be held at various locations throughout the county. The workshops are designed to reduce the fear of falling and increase activity levels for older adults. No fees are charged for those 60 and older, but donations are appreciated.
Due to limited class sizes, participants are asked to preregister. Contact Marja Johnson at 303-441-3599 or mjohnson@bouldercounty.org to register or for more information.
Schedule
Boulder
Calvary Bible Church
Tuesdays, July 6-Aug. 24, 2-4 p.m.
Frasier Meadows
Wednesdays, July 14-Sept. 3, 2:30-4:30 p.m.
Longmont
Homewatch Caregivers
Thursdays, July 15-Sept. 2, 9-11 a.m.
Lafayette
Villa West
Fridays, July 16-Sept. 3, 2-4 p.m.
Lafayette Senior Center
Mondays and Wednesdays, Aug. 17-Oct. 5, 2:30-5 p.m.
Matter of Balance is an evidence-based program and is endorsed by the Administration on Aging, whose statistics show that:
• Falls are the leading cause of death from injury among people 65 and older
• 25 percent of those who fracture a hip require lifelong nursing care
• 50 percent of the elderly that sustain a fall-related injury will be discharged to a nursing home rather than return home
• 25 percent of people 75 years and older unnecessarily restrict their activities because of fear of falling
-BoulderCounty.org-
Rocky Mountain Raptor Program
Stunning Recovery – Clutching Life From The Jaws Of Death
FIFTY Admissions In June
Take a Behind-The-Scenes Tour Of RMRP – FREE
Become A Day Sponsor Of RMRP’s 2011 Calendar
Friendly Folks Needed
Raptor Field Trips
See Raptors At Renaissance Festival
The Rocky Mountain Raptor Program rescues, rehabilitates and releases orphaned, sick and injured birds of prey, including eagles, owls, hawks and falcons, and admitted 332 raptors in 2009. RMRP Through its comprehensive Environmental Education program, RMRP encourages the protection of raptors and the spaces where they live.
The Raptor Program works very closely with the veterinarians at Colorado State University’s Veterinary Medical Center and has admitted nearly 5,000 cases since the program started as a student club in 1979.
More than 70% of treatable raptors are released for A Second Chance At Freedom.
Media Matters: Conservatives rehash debunked myths and caricatures for Kagan hearings
Spoiler alert: Barring unforeseen circumstances, Elena Kagan will be confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Even Fox News admits as much. Reporter Carl Cameron called her confirmation "likely"; Fox News Sunday's Chris Wallace said she'll "sail through"; Fox political analyst Charles Krauthammer called it "a shoo-in"; Fox reporter Shannon Bream predicted she'll get GOP votes; and Fox senior analyst Brit Hume said there's "nothing" that would merit a filibuster.
Part of the reason for her expected confirmation is that Kagan not only has bipartisan support and a "fantastic resume," but the ammunition prepared against her in the weeks leading up to the hearings -- see them debunked by Media Matters here -- have fallen flat.
Still, that hasn't stopped Republicans and their conservative media counterparts from pushing tired falsehoods and myths. But why fight a battle when even their cheerleaders at Fox think the outcome has been virtually decided?
As conservatives made clear months before the hearings, the opposition is based on politics rather than Kagan's actual qualifications and opinions. In other words, the Kagan confirmation battle is just one piece of the larger battle for the Supreme Court. As Democrats hold confirmation power in the U.S. Senate, and nomination power in the White House, conservatives need to shift power in upcoming elections. And on point, conservative media figures have used the Kagan hearings to drum up old caricatures about Democrats and progressives on old base issues like god, guns, abortion and the military.
The most popular Kagan myth is that she banned military recruiters while dean at Harvard Law. In reality, Harvard students had access to military recruiters throughout her tenure, were allowed access to Harvard's Office of Career Services, and military veterans at Harvard Law spoke out in favor of Kagan.
Those facts haven't stopped Fox News, The Washington Times, the New York Post, and The Weekly Standard from pushing the "military ban" myth. The talking point also found prominence on the Sunday talk shows, where the hosts for CNN, Fox, and NBC failed to challenge Republican officials spouting the attack.
With his characteristic charm, botanist Michael Savage, who also hosts a radio show, called Kagan "an unqualified idiot" because she puts her "gay agenda" ahead of national security. Rush Limbaugh said Kagan "doesn't like the U.S. military." Laura Ingraham claimed Kagan believes "military recruiters are second-class citizens." And radio host and Washington Times columnist Jeff Kuhner claimed Kagan's action towards military recruiters "was an act of treason."
Conservatives have also set their sights on a memo Kagan wrote in 1987, distorting it to claim that she's anti-Second amendment. CNN's Erick Erickson, last seen touting his wife's shotgun and calling Justice David Souter a "goat fucking child molester," said Kagan is "hostile to Second Amendment rights." Michelle Malkin wrote that Kagan has "hostility to the 2nd Amendment." And Limbaugh claimed Kagan "would have voted against the Second Amendment."
In reality, Kagan's Second Amendment views are within the mainstream, and Justice Antonin Scalia has agreed with Kagan that Second Amendment rights are "not unlimited."
Conservative media have also ramped up claims that Kagan is hostile to religion. Late last week, Matt Drudge promoted an attack by Rabbi Yehuda Levin of the Rabbinical Alliance of America, who attacked Kagan for turning "traditional Judaism on its head" because she supposedly wants to "homosexualize every segment of society." Strong words made more understandable when one realizes that Rabbi Levin is a hateful bigot. Not only has he spent much of his adult life protesting gays and lesbians (even going so far as to protest the inclusion of gays in a Holocaust museum), Rabbi Levin has claimed gays are responsible for 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the earthquake in Haiti. Fun fact: they're not!
Savage, the fourth most popular radio talker in the country, has provided a clearinghouse for personal attacks on Kagan. He called "Kagan the pagan" a "bagel and lox Jew" who "shuns her own religion." He also said Kagan has "aesthetics" problems, "looks like she belongs in a kosher deli," and "we understand that they gave her makeup, lipstick, and pearls to make her look like a woman."
When it comes to abortion, Fox News host and recovering lawyer Megyn Kelly falsely claimed that Kagan advised President Clinton to "essentially" endorse a health exception that would have allowed women to "get an abortion in the third trimester" because of "a headache." In reality, Kagan advocated for a middle position that would have banned late-term abortions with a narrowly drawn health exception.
Limbaugh took the baby-killer meme one step further by claiming that Kagan "may have a bigger problem with me eating an egg than with a woman killing her child."
If the Kagan myths and smears sound familiar, it's because they're virtually the same caricatures used against Democrats for years. Barack Obama, you'll remember, is the pro-baby killing candidate with questionable faith and a desire to replace the military and take your guns.
Of course, none of that has happened. The claims were rhetorical grandstanding for votes, money, and viewers -- a playbook repeated during the Kagan hearings.
Fox News still failing econ
Earlier this week, America's Newsroom, one of Fox News' purported straight news programs, aired a chart claiming to show "job loss by quarter." What the chart actually showed was the number of unemployed during four random quarters over the past two-and-a-half years -- and Fox News' lax research standards and accountability.
As Media Matters' Jocie Fong noted, Fox News' chart appears to have been deliberately manipulated to generate a less favorable trend line for the Obama administration. The chart used a straight red line to show that job loses have been on the rise since December 2007 to this month. But the chart distorted the scale of the horizontal and vertical axes and included only four data points, thereby omitting any information from the 15-month period between March 2009 and June 2010. Fox viewers came away with the false notion that the unemployment trend has been unchanged since the beginning of the recession.
On Fox & Friends, Brian Kilmeade -- whose economic background includes charting the number of Swedish "pure genes" compared to those of Americans -- said the chart shows the stimulus "doesn't seem to be helping" (prominent economics not named Kilmeade disagree).
Fox & Friends also repeatedly attacked Obama's recent town hall remarks on the stimulus by falsely referring to the stimulus as the "bailout" and claiming that it "didn't work." Fox News, and their colleagues in the conservative media, also falsely suggested that Vice President Joe Biden admitted the stimulus failed when he said, "There's no possibility to restore 8 million jobs lost in the Great Recession"; and attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for stating that unemployment insurance stimulates the economy and creates jobs (economists agree that extending unemployment insurance has a strong stimulative effect on GDP and employment during a recession).
As regular readers of Media Matters know, mistakes like this are fairly common for Fox News. In that vein, Media Matters sent its seventh letter to Fox News senior vice president Michael Clemente to ask how the network would handle its recent on-air errors, such as the bogus "job loss" chart, in light of the network's "zero tolerance" policy. Media Matters has sent Clemente six previous letters about such errors but has yet to receive a response.
Glenn Beck's principles don't apply to Glenn Beck
Back in early January 2009, as President Obama was preparing to enter the White House, Glenn Beck was readying his own (lower-stakes) move from CNN Headline News to Fox News. Promoing his forthcoming show, Beck claimed he was "tired of the politics of left and right" and decried conservatives who say things like "Oh, those donkeys trying to turn us into communist Russia." He then yelled, "Stop!"
Beck's proclamation was a tad hypocritical since he had a long, pre-Fox history of comparing progressives to Russian communists, Marxists and socialists. And in the first several weeks of his Fox News program, Beck continued the trend by similarly smearing Democrats and their policies.
Fast forward to today. As Media Matters' Ben Dimiero noted, history professor Beck has spent significant time trying to rehabilitate the supposed unfairly tarnished legacy of Joseph McCarthy. Beck added that today, "Marxism is alive and well" and "thriving here in the United States." In other words, as Beck might put it, "those donkeys [are] trying to turn us into communist Russia.”
Speaking of fear-mongering about “Marxism,” Beck also continued to attack President Obama’s family this week, stating: “[H]is dad leaves him for Marxism, his mom leaves him for Marxism.” Just weeks ago, Beck commented that “there is absolutely no excuse or reason to ever, ever, ever, ever even come close to the line of dragging somebody’s family into the debate.”
Glenn Beck’s principles simply don’t apply to Glenn Beck.
This weekly wrap-up was compiled by Eric Hananoki, a research fellow at Media Matters for America.
The annual Fourth of July fireworks show, Ralphie’s Independence Day Blast, will take place again this year at Folsom Field. This year’s event features entertainment by the city Open Space and Mountain Parks singing rangers, the Skip-Its jump rope team, and Cheer Central. Gates open at 8:00 p.m. The program starts at 8:30 p.m.
Parking is free at Boulder’s Twenty Ninth Street shopping center’s parking garages, downtown city parking garages and all city parking meters. Free HOP and Buff Bus service will be provided from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. from these parking areas to Folsom Field and back. At the Twenty Ninth Street shopping center, the HOP pick-up is located on 29thStreet at the HOP stop and the Buff Bus pick-up is located by the Macy’s parking garage on Walnut. Also, parking is available at CU on a first-come, first-served basis in the lot off of Regent Drive and in the Kittredge/Fiske Planetarium area. Accessible parking is available off Folsom Street and Colorado Avenue for those with proper permits.
The following items are not permitted into the stadium:
- Hard-sided containers of any size or style
- Bags or containers larger than 12″ x 12″ x 12″
- Alcohol
- Glass bottles or cans
Ø Non-alcoholic beverages brought into the stadium must be in approved factory-sealed plastic containers only. Water bottles, sport bottles or other approved types of beverage containers that are not factory sealed must be emptied prior to entering the stadium. They may be refilled once inside at any water fountain.
- Umbrellas of any size
- Firearms or weapons of any type
- Designated artificial noise makers such as whistles or air horns
- Signs or flags on sticks, regardless of the length
- Any unapproved signs or banners
- Footballs, Frisbees, inflatable balls
- Fireworks
- Animals (with the exception of service animals for people with disabilities)
- Any other item(s) deemed dangerous or unacceptable by security
This event is hosted by the associates of Wright Kingdom Real Estate, the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU) and the City of Boulder. Media Sponsors include the Daily Camera, KBCO Radio and Boulder Channel 8.
For more information, go to www.boulder4thofjuly.com. For HOP routes, go to www.goboulder.net.
City of Boulder holiday schedule for Sunday, July 4, and Monday, July 5
Sunday, July 4
Closures:
All library branches
North Boulder Recreation Center
South Boulder Recreation Center
Pottery Lab
Police Records Department
Open with regular hours:
Flatirons Golf Course
Boulder Reservoir
Spruce Pool
Scott Carpenter Pool
Open with revised hours:
East Boulder Community Center, open 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Chautauqua Ranger Cottage, open until 2 p.m.
Monday, July 5
Closures:
All administrative offices
All library Branches
West Senior Center
East Senior Center
Open with regular hours:
All recreation centers and pools
Pottery Lab
Flatirons Golf Course
Boulder Reservoir
Chautauqua Ranger Cottage
Parking:
All city meters and garages are free.
| Last night, just before 7 p.m. Eastern Time, the House passed Wall Street reform by a vote of 237 to 192. This is a huge victory for our movement — and all American consumers. Now, there’s just one hurdle left before this historic bill can be signed into law. It must be passed by the Senate — a vote likely to come right after the July 4th congressional recess. Protecting consumers and holding the big banks accountable is a key piece of the change that all of us fought for in 2008. It’s up to us to bring it across the finish line — making sure every champion in the Senate knows that we’re standing with them, and that those in opposition know that Americans are demanding reform. Can you take a moment now to write to your senators? http://my.barackobama.com/WSRSenateVote Thanks for making it possible, Mitch Mitch Stewart P.S. — A lot of OFA supporters have been passing around this clip from Rachel Maddow’s show about the incredible changes made during the Obama administration. Take a look: |
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