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Review: Radiation City's "Animals in the Median"

Jon Young — Mon, 20 May 2013 10:00:05 +0000

Radiation City
Animals in the Median
Tender Loving Empire

Dreamy and wistful is the default mode for plenty of modern bands that haven't figured out who they want to be when they grow up, but the striking Portland, Oregon quintet Radiation City shows how to do it right. Their second album, Animals in the Median, shimmers like a unearthly mirage, weaving together misty melodies, analog electronics and the siren vocals of keyboardist Lizzy Ellison to create a poignant sense of faded optimism and missed opportunities. Hazy gems such as "Wash of Noise" and "Lark" echo the melancholy retro-futurism of Stereolab, albeit with a more delicate touch, while the gauzy "Wary Eyes" evokes the gently eerie sensation of hearing soft music from another room at 3 a.m. Ellison and company could create a great soundtrack for David Lynch.

The National's "Trouble Will Find Me"—Place on Repeat

Brett Brownell — Mon, 20 May 2013 09:30:06 +0000

Photo by Deirdre O'Callaghan

You know how when you get a song stuck in your head, you're not always sure how it burrowed its way in there? Well, people who attended The National's May 5 performance at New York's MoMA PS1 museum can be pretty damned sure. Over a six-hour period, the band played "Sorrow," off its 2010 release, High Violet, 105 times in a row.

The special performance, aptly dubbed "A Lot of Sorrow," was technically a work created by the Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson as part of his ongoing "explorations into the potential of repetitive performance to produce sculptural presence within sound."

The following clip, supposedly starting around 2 hours and 40 minutes into the show, includes three of the repetitions.

During a Reddit AMA three days later, a band member reflected:

Actually as the hours went on I think we all realized that this experience was something special for us—there was a weird hypnotic resonance and spirituality to repeating the song over and over. We almost didn't want to stop and we learned something about our capacity for endurance and the song opened up in surprising ways...By the end it didn't feel like we were playing it anymore. We know the idea seemed pretentious in some way, but Ragnar has this mix of humor and sadness that feels quite similar to what our songs about...We're very glad to have done it.

This week, The National, follows up its hypnotic performance with the release of Trouble Will Find Me, their sixth studio album, on the 4AD label.

Trouble Will Find Me

Trouble... is replete with the usual mix of sorrow, longing, depression, and nearly infrasonic tone of singer Matt Berninger's voice that fans of The National have come to know and love. But some of the tracks still provide you with the opportunity to rock out, lest you need a break from your whimpering.

For example, there's "Sea of Love," the video of which the band premiered during its AMA. A fan had asked, "What is your guys' favourite music video?" Whereupon the band replied, craftily, "Actually there's one video that we all really love, so we made this homage." They revealed the link to the new video. And the sleuthing promptly began for the original.

A single-take shot in a sparse, nondescript room, with nothing but a dangling microphone, air-conditioning unit, and boy wandering in from off-screen: It didn't look familiar.

Nor should it. It mimics a video for a song first released in 1995—in Russia—by Soviet-era punk band Zvuki Mu. The song title, "Grubiy Zakat," means "Rough Sunset." Check it out:

Bryce Dessner, who plays guitar for The National, told PRI's The World that he "fell in love with it immediately" when he first saw the video on YouTube. "We have to do something like this," he told his bandmates.

They reached out to Zvuki Mu, but were unable to track down any of its members. Obviously, that didn't deter them from making their own version.

Next up for The National: a vinyl version of their six-hour MoMA performance for charity. Seriously.

If the new album, epic vinyl repetition party, and homage to a Soviet video aren't enough for you, you can get more of The National in movie form. Singer Matt Berninger's brother Tom was brought on tour as a roadie and ended up making a haphazard documentary about the band called Mistaken for Strangers. If you can make it to Australia by June, you can catch the next screening at the Sydney Film Festival. I'll leave you with the trailer.

Spock and Awe: How 4 Lucky Post-9/11 War Vets Landed Roles in "Star Trek Into Darkness"

Asawin Suebsaeng — Thu, 16 May 2013 23:05:14 +0000

On April 24, 2005, US Marine Corps lance corporal Adam McCann was on patrol with his fire team, as he had been on many other occasions. His team was inspecting a weapons cache discovered in the city of HÄ«t in Iraq's Al-Anbar province. As they prepared to head back to base, they were met with a hail of mortar fire launched from the other side of street. The entire team was injured, and McCann sustained shrapnel wounds to his neck and both legs. But all escaped with their lives.

Eight years later, on May 14, McCann, who is now 27, attended the star-studded Los Angeles premiere of Star Trek Into Darkness—in which he plays a minor role. "Seeing my name in the movie credits was pretty nice," McCann told me. "And the after-party was pretty amazing as well."

McCann is one of four post-9/11 American war veterans featured in the new film as the "Starfleet Ceremonial Guard." (The others are Melissa Steinman of the Coast Guard, Eric Greitens of the Navy, and Jon Orvrasky of the Marine Corps.) All have been involved with The Mission Continues, a nonprofit that awards community service fellowships to vets, and helps them apply the skills they learned in the armed forces to work and life at home. Greitens—an ex-Navy SEAL and Rhodes Scholar—founded the group in 2007, and was included in the 2013 Time 100, where he was praised by former Joint Chiefs chairman Mike Mullen as "one of the most remarkable young men I have ever encountered."

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This Film Is "Snakes on a Plane," But With Air Force One, Terrorists, and an Escape Pod

Asawin Suebsaeng — Tue, 14 May 2013 14:07:58 +0000

Hollywood megastar and snake-punching virtuoso Samuel L. Jackson is going to be President of the United States.

At least he will be in director Jalmari Helander's English-language debut film, Big Game. This is a description of the upcoming movie, via the Hollywood Reporter (emphasis mine):

The movie is billed as an adrenaline-fuelled action-adventure and tells the story of a shy, nervous 13-year-old boy who, like his forefathers, takes a test of manhood by spending one day and night alone in the wilderness of a vast local forest.

Armed only with a bow and arrow, his task is to return with a prize to prove himself. But when Air Force One is shot down by terrorists, the young man discovers the U.S. president in an escape pod, and they have to team up as the terrorists close in.

This will be the most political and presidential thing Jackson has done since last September, when he starred in a pro-Obama web ad (funded by The Jewish Council for Education & Research, a liberal super-PAC) that demanded complacent Democratic voters "wake the fuck up" before the 2012 election.

Short Takes: Our Nixon

Jaeah Lee — Mon, 13 May 2013 10:00:11 +0000

Our Nixon

DIPPER FILMS

One morning in 1972, Nixon chief of staff H.R. "Bob" Haldeman gave press secretary Ron Ziegler some big news: Nixon had just gone to meet with Mao Zedong, head of China's Communist Party, marking the first thaw in a quarter century of US-China relations. In his shock, Ziegler bit into an unpeeled clementine without realizing it. This obscure clip is one of many you'll experience in Our Nixon, a curated collage of 500 Super 8 film reels shot by Haldeman and Nixon aides Dwight Chapin and John Ehrlichman—ambitious men who obsessively documented their lives in the West Wing. The footage, seized by the FBI after Watergate, offers an intimate glimpse into a notoriously secretive administration. "It was a very unnatural kind of life," Ehrlichman reveals. "You had the feeling you were in the middle of a great big, brilliantly lighted, badly run television show."

Quick Reads: "Any Way You Slice It" by Stan Cox

Kiera Butler — Mon, 13 May 2013 10:00:10 +0000

Any Way You Slice It: The Past, Present, and Future of Rationing

By Stan Cox

THE NEW PRESS

In this lucid and lively book, Stan Cox, an environmental writer whose last book charted the effects of air conditioning on the American landscape, explains how "rationing" has become a dirty word. Through examples ranging from post-Hurricane Sandy gas shortages to China's one-child policy, he depicts a society anxious about our right to consumer choice. "Whenever there's a ceiling on available goods, no one is happy," Cox writes. But sooner or later we'll almost certainly have to ration food, water, and fossil fuels. "If rationing becomes unavoidable, the way it happens—justly or harshly—will depend very much on whether we have managed to build a more just society."

Review: The Handsome Family's "Wilderness"

Jon Young — Mon, 13 May 2013 09:30:06 +0000

The Handsome Family
Wilderness
Carrot Top

Wilderness

Albuquerque-based spouses Brett and Rennie Sparks have crafted their idiosyncratic version of Americana for more than two decades, blending his low growl of a voice with her askew lyrics to offer a subtly surreal take on traditional music. In songs like "Frogs," "Caterpillars," and "Eels" (you get their drift), the slow-cooking Wilderness, out this week, charts the uneasy interaction between humankind and the natural world, often to scary effect. "The owls they mock me and have stolen my pills," Brett murmurs on—what else?—"Owls." Things turn downright creepy on "Spider," his account of how "a million little teeth tore me to pieces." Amid familiar fiddles and banjos, the Handsome Family's absorbing vision of decay and entropy is quietly unsettling, and makes most other modern roots music seem like child's play.

5 Directors Who Should Have Directed "The Great Gatsby" Instead of Baz Luhrmann

Asawin Suebsaeng — Fri, 10 May 2013 10:00:10 +0000

The Great Gatsby
Warner Bros. Pictures
142 minutes

The new adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's American classic/required high school reading The Great Gatsby is exactly how I remember the book: With a hip-hop-tinged drunken pillow fight in 3-D starring sweaty Tobey Maguire.

As an elevator pitch, there is absolutely nothing wrong with Baz Luhrmann's ultra-modern take on The Great Gatsby. His thoroughly modern update of Shakespeare—which, like Gatsby, stars Leonardo DiCaprio—is a joy. Plus, the timelessness of the 1925 novel makes any playful anachronisms (rap and rock music in the soundtrack, grinding dancing, and so forth) all the less suspicious.

But the result is almost unforgivably terrible, gratingly earnest in a way that the novel never was. When classic lines of narration from the beloved book start floating directly at your face as a 3-D special effects gimmick, it's a challenge not to groan audibly in your seat.

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Music Review: "Nightlight" by Dungeonesse

Jon Young — Fri, 10 May 2013 10:00:07 +0000

TRACK 5

"Nightlight"

From Dungeonesse's Dungeonesse

SECRETLY CANADIAN

Liner notes: Joined by White Life's Jon Ehrens, Jenn Wasner reinvents herself as a dance floor diva, with creamy keyboards, yearning voices, and pumping beats evoking a neon mirage of ecstatic rapture.

Behind the music: Besides singing alt-folk in the duo Wye Oak, the versatile Wasner also performs solo as the poppier Flock of Dimes, while her venture with fellow Baltimorean Ehrens harks back to '90s R&B.

Check it out if you like: The latest from Cat Power and Tegan and Sara, other indie faves who underwent a musical facelift.

Photos: Flamin' Groovies Hometown Return

Mark Murrmann — Tue, 07 May 2013 19:36:12 +0000

Cyril Jordan and Chris Wilson of the Flamin' Groovies. Photos by Mark Murrman

Following a quick romp through Japan and Australia, San Francisco legends the Flamin' Groovies played a hastily arranged show in their hometown this past weekend—the first time this version of the band has played locally since 1981.

The mid-'70s era Flamin' Groovies, with founder Cyril Jordan, George Alexander (bass), Chris Wilson (also of UK band the Barracudas), and Victor Penalosa (drums) tore through a tight set of their near-hits, kicking off with the slow-burning "Yeah My Baby," before running through their power-pop classics, "You Tore Me Down," "I Can't Hide," and of course, "Shake Some Action."

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Jake Shimabukuro Rocked the Ukulele Before It Was Cool

Maggie Caldwell — Mon, 06 May 2013 09:30:06 +0000

While the jury is out over whether guitar rock is enjoying a renaissance or fading from relevance, the guitar's little brother, the ukulele, has entered the zeitgeist in a big way. With it's small body, four strings, and a range of just two octaves, the uke is among the humblest of instruments. But in the past few years, the uke has popped up in the hands of artists from Taylor Swift and Jason Mraz to Paul McCartney and Jack Johnson. In 2011, Eddie Vedder put out an entire album of quavering love songs that sound like the brooding inner monolog of a heartbroken surfer. With Zooey Deschanel as their queen, the cutie-girl set has made the ukulele nearly as ubiquitous as bird tattoos.

Much its recent popularity, though, is owed to Japanese-American virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro who in several ways resembles the instrument he has mastered: charming, unassuming, Hawaiian. But in Shimabukuro's hands, as he breaks out experimental jazz, lays down a steady blues train, or shreds on rock anthems, this little jumping flea becomes a melodic monster.

Through the late-'90s and early aughts, Shimabukuro carved out a respectable living as a touring artist, but his career exploded in 2006 after a video of him performing While My Guitar Gently Weeps became one of the first YouTube videos to go viral. Forget what the internet says about the overuse of the word "epic." This performance defines it:

Soon after, late night TV shows began knocking on his doors. He was invited to play duets with the likes of Bette Midler and Jimmy Buffett. And now his existence is the subject of Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings, a documentary airing May 10 on PBS. Through intimate conversations and inspiring performances, the film offers of portrait of the man and his instrument. I caught up with Shimabukuro recently to talk about his dream collaboration, meeting the Queen of England, and what it's like to go viral.

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Like Most Libertarians, Iron Man Grows Up and Moves On

Asawin Suebsaeng — Fri, 03 May 2013 22:46:06 +0000

Iron Man 3
Walt Disney Studios
129 minutes

"There's no politics here; it's just good old-fashioned revenge," Tony Stark (a.k.a., Iron Man) declares to a swarm of TV news reporters, following a terrorist attack that leaves a good friend of his in a coma. "There's no Pentagon, it's just you and me," Stark says to his latest nemesis.

This statement also applies to the film itself.

The third installment in Marvel's Iron Man series is the first in the franchise that wasn't directed by Jon Favreau. The man at the helm this time around is writer/director Shane Black, who is famous for penning Hollywood action flicks like 1987's Lethal Weapon, and for directing 2005's Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, also starring Robert Downey, Jr. The first two films portrayed Tony Stark/Iron Man as he was intended to be depicted: as a suave, hard-partying, right-wing billionaire who battles America's enemies, foreign and domestic. In the DVD commentary of the first Iron Man, Marvel frontman Stan Lee discusses why he created the character in the first place. He wanted to piss off some hippies:

It was the height of the Cold War. The readers—the young readers—if there was one thing they hated it was war, it was the military, or, as Eisenhower called it, the military-industrial complex. So I got a hero who represented that to the hundredth degree. He was a weapons manufacturer. He was providing weapons for the army. He was rich. He was an industrialist. But he was good-looking guy and he was courageous…I thought it would be fun to take the kind of character that nobody would like—that none of our readers would like—and shove him down their throats and make them like him.

Though no one should ever accuse the Iron Man movies of pulling for any particular political agenda, the first two films did preserve the comic books' gleefully rightward lean. (After all, Favreau identified Elon Musk, the libertarian billionaire who co-founded the galactic transport company SpaceX, as the inspiration for the on-screen version of Tony Stark; Musk also had a cameo in Iron Man 2.)

In the first Iron Man, Stark's bad-boy charisma is defined by his belief in a Peace-Through-Strength-on-steroids mindset:

Although he undergoes something of a personal and political makeover later in the film, the beginning of Iron Man 2 shows Stark in familiar form. When he's called to a hearing on Capitol Hill, lawmakers pressure him to turn over his terrorism-fighting toys to the US government and military. In response, a defiant Stark denies the government his property, cockily mocks the panel of lawmakers, and brags that he "successfully privatized world peace." This is met with wild cheers from the gallery.

There are no politics to Iron Man 3, beyond the political assertion that lethal and indiscriminate terrorism is bad. Director Shane Black, who co-wrote the screenplay, is far more concerned with the slam-bang fight scenes and the romance between Stark and his live-in girlfriend Virginia "Pepper" Potts (played by Gwyneth Paltrow). So much of the film focuses on Stark, once the consummate care-free playboy, settling down with the love of his life. It's a genuinely interesting and tender part of the story—and the best and most convincing romance in the modern comic-books-as-film cannon. Their relationship demonstrates just how softened and vulnerable (touchingly so) Tony Stark can get.

With his single life, goes his ideology.

Check out the trailer for Iron Man 3:

Iron Man 3 gets a wide US release on Friday, May 3. The film is rated PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence throughout, and brief suggestive content. Click here for local showtimes and tickets.

Click here for more movie and TV coverage from Mother Jones.

To read more of Asawin's reviews, click here.

To listen to the movie and pop-culture podcast that Asawin co-hosts with ThinkProgress critic Alyssa Rosenberg, click here.

How Michael Pollan Inspired Zac Efron's Latest Movie

Asawin Suebsaeng — Fri, 03 May 2013 16:26:52 +0000

At Any Price
Sony Pictures Classics
105 minutes

At Any Price, a bleak family drama set against the backdrop of the Corn Belt, is essentially Death of a Salesman, but with genetically modified superseeds.

The film is co-written and directed by Ramin Bahrani, who the late critic Roger Ebert dubbed the new "director of the decade," soon after seeing Bahrani's 2007 film Chop Shop. At Any Price stars Dennis Quaid and Zac Efron (last seen getting peed on by Nicole Kidman in a Lee Daniels art film last year) as a father and son living their lives of noisy desperation.

Quaid plays Henry Whipple (no, not that Henry Whipple), an adulterous farmer and salesman entrenched in the ruthless, multimillion-dollar rivalry between Iowa's big-business farmers. Henry becomes the target of a corporate investigation after illegally washing and reselling patented genetically modified seeds. Efron plays Dean, a local stock car racing champion who dreams of ditching the family business and making a name for himself as a NASCAR driver.

The pair's disenchantment and bitterness result in a wave of betrayal, anger, and violence in their otherwise peaceful Midwestern town. The film is a quietly disturbing little picture, and features some magnificent acting, especially by Quaid.

The film is not (as Bahrani is quick to point out) in any way political, even though the story prominently involves GMOs, a controversial and extremely political topic these days. The origin of this apolitical film, however, is indeed rooted in Bahrani's very political interests. In a conversation I had with Bahrani and Quaid, the 38-year-old director explained how he went about writing At Any Price:

I was curious where my food was coming from. I was reading authors like Michael Pollan...And I started realizing that farms aren't romantic places anymore—they're big businesses. So Michael Pollan and I became email friends, and I asked him to introduce me to George Naylor, who's a farmer in Iowa who was featured in [Pollan's 2006 book] The Omnivore's Dilemma. So I went out and I lived with George for many months, and when I went out there, all the farmers kept telling me, "expand or die, get big or get out." And I met a seed salesman, [and] I never knew there was such an occupation as "GMO seed salesman"...And [he] made me think of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. And I thought combining these things would be a way to tell a human and emotional story...When you have a lot of race cars and infidelity, it's hard to be an "agenda film."

(So there you have it: You can thank Michael Pollan for indirectly causing the development of Zac Efron's newest movie.)

Bahrani pulled from John Steinbeck, John Ford, and Peter Bogdanovich for narrative and stylistic influences. He also shadowed several Iowa farmers, incorporating their sentiments and commentary into his screenplay. One day, Bahrani noticed that a customer of one of the farmers owned a stock car for figure 8 racing—an observation he used to craft Efron's character. "I YouTube'd [figure 8 racing] that night, and I made a point to keep going to Iowa to go see races," Bahrani says. "I thought it would be a good contrast [for the two characters]...It had a different pace, and a different energy, and a different adrenaline."

Dennis Quaid didn't have time to conduct anything close to this level of research for his role. His learning experiences were all in the midst of production: "We shot it on a real farm," Quaid says. "I didn't have a trailer for this; it was my car or the living-room couch of the Hermans, the family [whose] farm we were shooting on... I spent my time with them, trying to soak up the atmosphere."

Check out the trailer for this tense and surprising drama:

At Any Price gets a wider release on Friday, May 3. The film is rated R for sexual content including a strong graphic image, and for language. Click here for local showtimes and tickets.

Click here for more movie and TV coverage from Mother Jones.

To read more of Asawin's reviews, click here.

To listen to the movie and pop-culture podcast that Asawin co-hosts with ThinkProgress critic Alyssa Rosenberg, click here.

HBO's "Manhunt: The Search for Bin Laden": Way Cooler Than "Zero Dark Thirty"

Asawin Suebsaeng — Thu, 02 May 2013 00:31:54 +0000

Manhunt: The Search for Bin Laden
HBO Documentary Films
100 minutes

Forget Zero Dark Thirty. Instead, check out director Greg Barker's intimate look at the dogged nerds and tough-guy CIA officials who spent decades on Osama bin Laden's trail. This doc (based on Peter Bergen's 2012 book) has the pulse of a Michael Mann thriller, tracing the hunt from long before Al Qaeda became a household name. It offers a fascinating glimpse at "the Sisterhood," a crew of female CIA analysts who were "borderline obsessed" with nailing bin Laden in the 1990s. Details of their vital desk work are contrasted with interviews with former CIA higher-up (and torture advocate) Marty Martin, who refers to his "gangsta"-like role harvesting intel overseas.

Manhunt premieres Wednesday, May 1 (the two-year anniversary of the mission that killed bin Laden) at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT. Check out the trailer:

Click here for more movie and TV features from Mother Jones.

This review originally appeared in the May/June issue of Mother Jones.

Don't Use Jason Collins As an Excuse to Blame Homophobia on Black People

Adam Serwer — Wed, 01 May 2013 21:54:27 +0000

Jason Collins began his coming out essay in Sports Illustrated with the words, "I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay."

There's a reason Collins chose to mention he was black and gay—as though those two things were in as much tension as being the first openly gay male athlete active in one of America's favorite sports—but it deserves a more thoughtful examination than the one offered by Charles P. Pierce in Grantland. Pierce, feigning a familiarity with the history of the civil rights movement and the black church belied by the weakness of the evidence he's able to provide, writes:

His explanation for his decision to come out is rich with the historical "dual identity" forced on black Americans under Jim Crow, and the similar dynamic within which he lived as a gay man. Homophobia in the black community—indeed, even among the leaders of the civil rights movement of the 1960s—was some of the most virulent and stubborn of all, and there are still some who resent the equation of the gay rights movement with their struggle. In his announcement in Sports Illustrated, then, Collins gave every indication that he's fully aware of the historic and cultural dimensions of his decision, and of the sacrifices made elsewhere so that he would be free to make it now.

Look, man: It's called "double consciousness," not "dual identity," and it's an intellectual concept applicable to black existence in America prior to Jim Crow and after its demise. "Dual identity" is what Batman has. And Pierce's mangling of W.E.B. DuBois is the least of the problems with this paragraph.

There was certainly homophobia in the civil rights movement—but in the 1950s and '60s, American society was homophobic, and Pierce offers no evidence that the civil rights movement was more homophobic than any other American institution during that period. Given that one of the architects of the civil rights movement's nonviolent strategy was Bayard Rustin, it was arguably less homophobic than much of society at the time. With a few notable exceptions, surviving leaders of the movement—from Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) to Rev. James Lawson to Jesse Jackson to Julian Bond—are all in favor of gay and lesbian rights.

There's also little evidence for the proposition that black homophobia is "the most virulent and stubborn of all." Black folks, who were disenfranchised for centuries, didn't put any of those old anti-sodomy laws on the books. The legal architecture of discrimination based on sexual orientation is one of the few things in America that dates back to colonial times that wasn't built by black people.

Rather than black homophobia, "stubborn" better describes black resistance to conservative appeals based on homophobia, or the determination of black voters in 2012 who defied a nationwide voter suppression campaign to elect a black president who has himself endorsed the right of same-sex couples to marry. "Virulent and stubborn" doesn't really explain the sharp reversal in public opinion on gay rights happening not just in the black community but also everywhere else, a reversal so dramatic that the state with the fourth-largest black population in the country became one of the first to adopt marriage equality by a popular vote. In some polls, black voters lag behind other groups in approving of same-sex marriage, but the trend is clear, and black Americans' loyalty to a party that supports marriage equality makes it clear that however broad the remaining opposition is, it isn't very deep.

Worst of all, the only evidence Pierce offers for the idea that "the leaders of the civil rights movement of the 1960s" were the "most virulent and stubborn" homophobes of all (a description that doesn't even fit Marion Barry) is a link to an article about Rev. William Owens, a Tennessee pastor bankrolled by the National Organization for Marriage as part of their (failed) racial-wedge strategy in 2012 who claims he was a leader of the Nashville sit-in movement.

Well he used to, anyway. Last year, I reached out to three actual surviving leaders of the Nashville sit-in movement, Lewis, Lawson, and Vivian. Not one of them had ever heard of Owens, and Lawson and Vivian were astonished that anyone who might have been part of that movement at that time would be fighting gay rights now. In the last NOM press release I saw, Owens had demoted himself from "leader" to "participant." If you're going to slander some of the greatest people America has ever been lucky enough to call her own, you need more examples than one guy history can't even characterize as a backbencher.

Other than that, sure, he's a perfect example of how homophobia in the civil rights movement was the most "stubborn and virulent" of all. Cool history, bro.

Quick Reads: "Big, Hot, Cheap and Right" by Erica Grieder

Maggie Caldwell — Wed, 01 May 2013 10:00:13 +0000

Big, Hot, Cheap and Right: What America Can Learn From the Strange Genius of Texas

By Erica Grieder

PUBLIC AFFAIRS

You know that college friend, the big, boisterous, obstinate one who was always up to party, quick to fight, said the most regrettable things, and embarrassed you—but for some reason you just couldn't drop? Well, if Texas were a person, it would be that guy. In this folksy read, Texas Monthly senior editor Erica Grieder explores her home state and its idiosyncrasies, from its fiercely independent streak to its zany characters to its deep distrust of government. While the "Texas Model"—low taxes, low services—isn't perfect, Grieder argues that the state remains an economic powerhouse with low unemployment. And if the rest of the country would quit rolling its eyes, it might just learn a thing or two.

Awesome Reactions to Jason Collins' Coming Out (Updated)

Ian Gordon — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 17:03:00 +0000

In the latest issue of Sports Illustrated, the NBA's Jason Collins became the first active player in any of the big four sports (baseball, football, basketball, and hockey) to announce he was gay. His opening paragraph: "I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay."

Toward the end of his must-read story, Collins, a 7-foot, 255-pounder who has played for six teams in his 12-year pro career, ponders the fallout from his announcement:

I've been asked how other players will respond to my announcement. The simple answer is, I have no idea. I'm a pragmatist. I hope for the best, but plan for the worst. The biggest concern seems to be that gay players will behave unprofessionally in the locker room. Believe me, I've taken plenty of showers in 12 seasons. My behavior wasn't an issue before, and it won't be one now. My conduct won't change. I still abide by the adage, "What happens in the locker room stays in the locker room." I'm still a model of discretion.

Here's what President Obama had to say about Collins when asked at his Tuesday press conference:

And here's a look at what some people—some NBA players, some not—tweeted on Monday:

Proud of @jasoncollins34. Don't suffocate who u r because of the ignorance of others #courage #support #mambaarmystandup #BYOU
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) April 29, 2013

I am so proud of my bro @jasoncollins34 for being real. #FTheHaters bit.ly/12J9el5
— Baron Davis (@Baron_Davis) April 29, 2013

So proud of @jasoncollins34 for having the courage to stand up and out for who he is. I support, respect and salute you!!
— Michael Strahan (@michaelstrahan) April 29, 2013

Orange And Blue Skies Salutes Jason Collins. Thank You For Your Courage,A Slam Dunk Against HOMOPHOBIA.And Dat's Da "FREEDOM"Truth,Ruth.
— Spike Lee (@SpikeLee) April 29, 2013

The time has come. Maximum respect. RT @baron_davis: I am so proud of my bro @jasoncollins34 for being real. ... tmi.me/TGSBh
— Steve Nash (@SteveNash) April 29, 2013

Big kudos to @jasoncollins34. Living proof that your sexuality has nothing to do with your athletic ability. sportsillustrated.cnn.com/magazine/news/… #salute
— Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) April 29, 2013

I'm proud to call Jason Collins a friend. wjcf.co/154piCi
— Bill Clinton (@billclinton) April 29, 2013

Very proud of my friend Jason Collins for having the strength & courage to be the first openly gay player in the NBA. bit.ly/ZLei9F
— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) April 29, 2013

Well done Jason Collins- you are a brave man. And a big man at that:) 1981 was the year for me- 2013 is the year for you:)
— Martina Navratilova (@Martina) April 29, 2013

Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld: “We are extremely proud of Jason and support his decision to live his life proudly and openly."
— Chris Mannix (@ChrisMannixSI) April 29, 2013

Congratulations to Jason - society couldn't hope for a more eloquent & positive role model: buff.ly/10OvOMd
— John Amaechi OBE (@JohnAmaechi) April 29, 2013

Being real & authentic is very powerful. Well done Jason Collins for having the courage to take a monumental step forward. #LiveReal
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) April 29, 2013

White House commends #NBA veteran Jason #Collins on coming out as #gay - abcn.ws/Yhc5mJ
— Josh Lederman (@joshledermanAP) April 29, 2013

Jason's sexuality doesn't change the fact that he is a great friend and was a great teammate. @jasoncollins34
— Jason Kidd (@RealJasonKidd) April 29, 2013

Bravo, @jasoncollins34! Thanks for stepping up. For standing tall. And at 7 feet, that's saying a lot.
— Neil Patrick Harris (@ActuallyNPH) April 29, 2013

Wow this is amazing all smiles.. So so happy Jason Collins came out & announce he was openly GAY ALL SUPPORT OVER HERE #ATHLETEALLY #LGBT
— Kenneth Faried (@KennethFaried35) April 29, 2013

proud of Washington Wizards' player Jason Collins (@jasoncollins34) for coming out. we will stand with you as you continue on your journey.
— Russell Simmons (@UncleRUSH) April 29, 2013

Happy for @jasoncollins34 in his decision. A great teammate and friend. Thanks for helping me through my rookie season!! #classact #courage
— Kevin Love (@kevinlove) April 29, 2013

It is VERY IMPORTANT to be yourself - Jason Collins @jasoncollins34 is being himself - good for him
— Bernard King (@30BernardKing) April 29, 2013

We salute you, @jasoncollins34 for your courage and leadership. Any time you want to throw out a first pitch at Fenway Park, let us know.
— Boston Red Sox (@RedSox) April 29, 2013

I will always support people for being who they are. Happy for @jasoncollins34 that he can lead an honest life.
— Nick Swisher (@NickSwisher) April 29, 2013

Played NBA +college w/ @jasoncollins34 -tremendous human being and PHENOMENAL teammate, leader, friend.Look forward 2his continued success!
— Mark Madsen (@madsen_mark) April 29, 2013

Jason Collins has announced that he is gay. I know Jason and his family well and I support him 100%.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) April 29, 2013

Big support to @jasoncollins34.That's not an easy thing you did
— Howard Stern (@HowardStern) April 29, 2013

Same! RT @diablocody: Congrats, Jason Collins, and thank you!
— Katy Perry (@katyperry) April 29, 2013

.@nba center @jasoncollins34 is the 1st out player on a US major league team. I'm overwhelmed by your bravery, Jason, & sending so much love
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) April 29, 2013

Happy for my former teammate Jason Colllins. A true American. "home of the free because of the brave"
— Rudy Gay (@rudygay22) April 29, 2013

So proud of Jason Collins for being an example of bravery and courage. I applaud you!!!
— Eva Longoria (@EvaLongoria) April 29, 2013

All my respect & support to JasonCollins. Thanks to his courage perhaps someday an athlete's sexual preference will be irrelevant. Congrats.
— Manu Ginobili (@manuginobili) April 29, 2013

. Props!@jasoncollins34
— andyroddick (@andyroddick) April 29, 2013

So proud of my fellow @stanfordalumni alum @jasoncollins34 !! #equalityforall #brave
— Michelle Wie (@themichellewie) April 29, 2013

Jason Collins showed a lot of courage today and I respect him for taking a stand and choosing to live in his truth. #nbafamily
— Way of WADE (@DwyaneWade) April 29, 2013

It's amazing to see such courage from @jasoncollins34 in today'sannouncement. Myself and the #NBAFamily supports you Jason!
— Pau Gasol (@paugasol) April 29, 2013

@nba @jason Collins, the NBA family has always been about acceptance and equality for all. Stand tall you have more supporters than haters.
— Isiah Thomas (@iamisiahthomas) April 29, 2013

Really hope people will RESPECT Jason Collins for his decision to come out. Just glad he can now relax and not be afraid to be who he is.
— tony Parker (@tonyparker) April 29, 2013

'He exemplifies everything we look for in players' - @bkdefend on Jason Collins. More: on.nba.com/15VcD4i
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) April 29, 2013

So proud of you, Jason Collins! This is a huge step forward for our country. We’ve got your back! -mo
— FLOTUS (@FLOTUS) April 29, 2013

. @jasoncollins34 was a complete professional and a great teammate. I support him in his decision and wish him all the best in the future.
— Al Horford (@Al_Horford) April 29, 2013

I would like to pledge my support to Jason Collins, and hope someday that we only get judged by our accomplishments.
— Barry Sanders (@BarrySanders) April 29, 2013

Much respect to @jasoncollins34 for doing what he is doing.... He was a great teammate and I support you either way...
— Jared Sullinger (@Jared_Sully0) April 29, 2013

Proud to support my teammate and friend @jasoncollins34. Stay true to you!
— Emeka Okafor (@BigMek50) April 29, 2013

Jason Collins' courageous act will impact many lives and help to create more tolerance in sports. Proud to have him representingthe NBA.
— Steve Kerr (@SteveKerrTNT) April 29, 2013

hug for jason @jasoncollins34
— Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco) April 29, 2013

Character is found in those who lead.I am so proud of my friend, Jason Collins, for showing all of us what leadership looks like.#way2go
— SHAQ (@SHAQ) April 29, 2013

Jason Collins @jasoncollins34 BRAVO!!!! We don't know each other but CONGRATULATIONS buddy! You are one brave man!#NBA
— Ricky Martin (@ricky_martin) April 29, 2013

@jasoncillins34 you have made sports what it should be and that's "OPEN" proud of you for being you. That's jump shot is still weak lol.
— Martell Webster (@MartellWebster) April 29, 2013

I am proud of my brother @jasoncollins34. Great teammate and mentor!
— John Wall (@John_Wall) April 30, 2013

I'm gonna be the first openly straight woman to french kiss the first openly gay NBA player.
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) April 30, 2013

I feel a movement coming.
— Robbie Rogers (@robbierogers) April 29, 2013

Big ups to Jason Collins.
— Jonah Hill (@JonahHill) April 30, 2013

Carmelo Anthony praised Jason Collins' decision to speak out: "It takes big balls to do that, especially (in) the society we live in."
— Frank Isola (@FisolaNYDN) April 30, 2013

This story has been revised.

Watch: Ghosts of the Asylums

Brett Brownell — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 10:00:16 +0000

Mother Jones' cover story for May/June 2013, "Schizophrenic. Killer. My Cousin.", features a collection of eerie, yet beautiful photographs of abandoned mental hospitals. They're the work of Jeremy Harris, a Brooklyn photographer who began sneaking into these buildings in 2005. In this video Jeremy explains the project and shows off some of the hospital artifacts he's collected along the way.

Note: the video production was originally a co-production between Mother Jones and Tumblr's Storyboard. But following the interview, Tumblr announced it was closing Storyboard.

Ooh La La: Sarkozy Gave the Obamas $42,000 Worth of Swag

Maggie Severns — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 22:00:23 +0000

Friday, the Federal Register released a list of all the gifts that foreign leaders gave President Obama in 2011. His haul included a basketball signed by the Toronto Raptors (from the Canadian prime minister), more than a dozen Brazilian soccer jerseys (from the governor of Rio de Janeiro), a pretty sweet-looking eco-friendly bamboo bike (from the ambassador of the Philippines), and an array of rugs, paintings, and statues.

Presumably the president smiled and said thank you to all these presents, because, as the Register dexplains, "Non-acceptance would cause embarrassment to donor and US Government." Even if Obama liked any of the gifts, he'll never get to use them: They all go to the National Archives and eventually, to his library and musuem.

French president Nicholas Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, made the rest look like cheapskates. They gave the first family more than $42,000 worth of French luxury goods including purses, perfumes, goblets, a Lacoste polo shirt, bath robes, and a Hermès golf bag worth $7,750. Some of the more insane gifts the Sarkozys gave the Obamas:

His and hers bathrobes
From the official description: "His and hers white, belted Dior bathrobes with 'Dior' embroidered on the breast pocket."

Hermès...everything
From the official description: "Large, black Hermes golf accessory bag including set of lock and key, and extra strap in bottom compartment, presented in cream colored drawstring bag."

The Sarkozys are partial to the French luxury brand. Other Hermès gifts: A $7,500 golf bag, a golf "travel bag" (there's a difference? Apparently there's a difference.), a travel case, a scarf for Michelle, and a cotton beach towel, which retails for around $600.

Hermés

A $400 lighter and pen
From the official description: "Limited-edition 'HOPE' fountain pen and Ligne 8 lighter from S.T. Dupont, each in a cherry blossom design, and contained in a 6.5" x 6.5" black box with 'G8 France 2011' on the top." A nod to POTUS's cigarette habit, perhaps?

AZ Fine Time

Baccarat crystal lamps
From the official description: "Baccarat 'Our Fire' clear full-headed crystal table lamps on silver pedestals with silver and crystal lampshades in red presentation box." Estimated value: $5,500.

Baccarat

Grooming products
More than $800 worth of goodies from the Paris perfumeries Frédéric Malle and Bonpoint.

Frederic Malle

The kicker? Despite its first couple's lavish taste, France actually spent less on its gifts than Brazil or Gabon president Ali Bongo Ondimba, who gave the president a 14-inch blue mask sculpture worth more than $50,000.
(h/t National Journal)

Richie Havens' Passion for Peace, Justice, and Damn Fine Music

Asawin Suebsaeng — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 17:51:52 +0000

On Monday, celebrated folk singer Richie Havens died of a heart attack at his Jersey City home at the age of 72. The Brooklyn-born musician was famous for his distinctive, husky baritone, and was a skilled and tough guitar player who could turn strummed rhythms into rhapsodies. He recorded and performed some of the best acoustic covers of the '60s and '70s, including renditions of Bob Dylan's "Just Like a Woman" and (my personal favorite) George Harrison's "Here Comes the Sun."

Havens dabbled in cinema, including acting alongside comic giant Richard Pryor in 1977's Greased Lightning, a film about Wendell Scott, the first African-American to get a NASCAR racing license. Quentin Tarantino used his signature song "Freedom" in a pivotal shootout sequence in Django Unchained. Havens toured tirelessly for nearly five decades. But since history has a nasty habit of reducing notable lives into single episodes, Havens will forever be remembered as the man who opened Woodstock '69 with a mesmerizing three-hour set.

Through all this, he maintained his passion for liberal politics, environmental action, and education. Though he wasn't the most fiercely political or ideological of his generation of entertainers, his dedication and interest were impressive nonetheless. In 1976, Havens cofounded the North Wind Undersea Institute, an oceanographic children's museum in the Bronx that reportedly "has a history of rescuing marine animals." He also formed the Natural Guard, an international organization created to promote hands-on activities that teach children about ecology and the environment. Here he is talking about it in the early '90s:

"I'm not in show business; I'm in the communications business," Havens told the Denver Post. "That's what it's about for me." You could feel this in virtually everything he recorded or sang on stage, most evidently in "Handsome Johnny," a song he cowrote that became a civil rights and anti-Vietnam War anthem. In 1978, his song "Shalom, Salam Alaikum," written after watching Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat's visit to Jerusalem, was a huge hit in Israel. And on a lesser note, Havens performed at Bill Clinton's presidential inauguration in 1993.

To the very end, he was a gentle soul pushing for peace, justice, and damn fine music.

I'll leave you with footage of the Transcendent Nation Foundation interviewing Havens in 2008 about "how to save the world":

Steve Martin and Edie Brickell's Banjo Magic

Maddie Oatman — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 09:30:06 +0000

Steve Martin and Edie Brickell
Love Has Come For You
Rounder Records

When Steve Martin played singer Edie Brickell a banjo tune he'd been working on, lyrics flooded into her mind as if she were recalling a preexisting song. She recorded the melody and sent it back to Martin, who began emailing her file after file of his banjo compositions, sometimes two a week, over which she'd quickly layer stories. "I'd just hear the tune and there were all these images and pictures," says Brickell of Martin's picking. "All you had to do was pull the lyrics out of the air."

From the alchemy of Martin's inventive five-string banjo strumming and Brickell's breezy and timeless twang emerged Love Has Come For You, out Tuesday, an intimate and stripped down album that centers on family lore, small-town gossip, and scorned love.

Actor and comedian Steve Martin likely needs no introduction—he's starred in classic comedies like Roxane, Three Amigos, Parenthood, and Father of the Bride—but his musical accomplishments still might catch you by surprise. He's played banjo since age 17, won Grammys in 2001 and 2009 for his instrumentals, and began touring with the bluegrass band the Steep Canyon Rangers in 2009. Edie Brickell shot to fame in the late 1980s as the frontwoman for the New Bohemians, with hits like the indignant "What I Am" and "Circle of Friends," followed by a marriage to Paul Simon and successful solo career (though she never repeated such a genius album name as Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars).

Brickell, who says she and Martin met at a dinner party in 1992, told me a little more via email about Love Has Come For You:

About two years ago, as we were exiting a restaurant, he asked me if I had ever considered singing in a group without drums. Our conversation was interrupted by the bustle of everyone leaving and saying their goodbyes, but it got me thinking. I saw him at a birthday party months later and felt brave enough to tell him how much I loved his music and if he ever wanted to make up a song together, it was my favorite thing to do.

Excited to work on a country album for the first time, Brickell tapped into her family history:

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A War Photographer Who Was More Than Just an Adrenaline Junkie

Mark Murrmann — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 10:00:11 +0000

A lot of photographers covering war pay lip service to the idea of making a difference with their photos or bearing witness or some noble sounding line of horseshit. Sure, for some of them it's true; they really believe. Yet most are just adrenaline junkies. Even if they go in with lofty ambitions, they come out addicted. It's rare to run across a journalist like Tim Hetherington, the British photographer who was killed in Misrata, Libya, in April 2011 while covering the revolution that overthrew Moammar Qaddafi. He was an exceptionally talented photographer with true aspirations of not just making a difference with his photos, but trying to understand the people he was photographing and the reason he was there.

Less a biography than an intimate tribute, the new film Which Way Is the Front Line From Here addresses head-on the reasons Hetherington went to shoot war and kept going back. Directed by Sebastian Junger, with whom Hetherington made the Oscar-nominated documentary Restrepo, it not only offers personal insights into who Hetherington was but addresses the larger issues of covering war, the issues that drove Hetherington.

For anyone who has ever entertained the idea of going into a war zone with a camera, or known someone who has, "Why?" is a hard question to answer truthfully. For Hetherington, the answer evolved from a need to find out who viciously blinded the children he photographed at a school for the blind in Liberia, to addressing how young men see themselves in war, to telling the story of combat as the ultimate bonding experience.

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Quick Reads: "You're All Just Jealous of My Jetpack"

Michael Mechanic — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:00:06 +0000

Courtesy Drawn & Quarterly

You’re All Just Jealous of My Jetpack
By Tom Gauld
Drawn & Quarterly

Readers of the Guardian and the New York Times Magazine may recognize the poignant and often dark humor of Tom Gauld, whose new collection of mostly unpublished cartoons pokes fun at literature and media of all stripes—a Beckett spin on Tintin, a Bronte sisters video game!—not to mention futurism, religion, modern art, and the hubris and frivolity of humankind in general. In one strip, a pretentious worm reproaches his unseen inquisitor for asking, "Are you happy?" So the questioner instead turns to a bird that has just swooped in to devour the worm. Answer: "Yes." Ideal for your coffee table—or that rack by the shitter.

Review: Bruce Molsky's "If It Ain't Here When I Get Back"

Michael Mechanic — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:20:09 +0000

Bruce Molsky
If It Ain't Here When I Get Back
Tree Frog Music

I owe Bruce Molsky 15 bucks.

That's for the time a Mother Jones intern ripped me an illicit copy of Soon Be Time, his sixth solo CD, which I've pretty much listened to death. But I figure I actually owe Molsky, a master of old-time Appalachian music, way more than that, because it was his playing that inspired me to pick up a fiddle and attempt to play the damn thing to the point where it no longer sounded like a wounded cat.

I believe I have succeeded in this. You'll have to ask my cat.

Plus, I figure that if Molsky could ditch a stable career as a mechanical engineer and become a professional musician at age 40, there was hope for me yet. (Hey, a man can dream.)

Molsky is easily one of the nation's most talented fiddlers, and he plays a mean claw-hammer banjo and blues guitar to boot. He's also been known to break out the occasional a cappella tune or harrowing ballad consisting of naught but vocals and sparse fiddle. He puts all of these skills to use on his latest solo album, If It Ain’t Here When I Get Back. "It's meant to be kind of an honor to people who I learned with and people who I hung out with years ago," Molsky told me recently. "Not in a sad, totally nostalgic kind of way, but it's kind of a look backwards and a look forwards for me." (Read the interview: "Bruce Molsky Is Not Fiddling Around.")

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A One-Word Review Of "Scary Movie 5"

Asawin Suebsaeng — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 14:46:45 +0000

No.