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        It’s time for the annual back-to-school essay. This summer we went to Italy to study the effects of the devaluation of the dollar against the Euro. I am distressed to report that the dollar is worth about as much in Italy as a Dennis Kucinich for president button. Paying $4 for a small cup of coffee will wake you up. Excellent table wine is cheaper than Cokes, which run about seven bucks. Italy is even more expensive than Starbucks.
        We began in Venice which is the Blanche DuBois of Italian cities, dependent upon the kindness of strangers to keep her afloat. Venice is floating in dollars supplied by kindly American tourists. Wall-to-wall tourists as far as the eye can see. {mosimage}
        Italy invented the cool hat. Venice used to be run by leaders called doges who wore a hat that looks like Beldar Conehead had mashed his head backwards when entering a low door. I would like to be a doge. It was a pretty sweet gig. In addition to the neat hat, you got a really fancy crib with high gold ceilings and paintings of saints everywhere. As doge, they paint your picture on the walls so that tourists can see you 700 years after you have departed this mortal coil.
        There are no SUVs or pick-up trucks in Venice. In fact, there are no cars in Venice. Everyone has to walk. As a result there appears to be no fat Italians in Venice. Italians are a good looking bunch of people as a result of diet, exercise and lack of constant exposure to Paris Hilton. Not that I would notice, but Italian women tended to wear low-cut tops with short belly shirts exposing flat stomachs. American tourists tended to have large overhanging bellies and carried ice cream cones in their hands.
        In one of life’s mysteries, there are no toilet seats in men’s or women’s public restrooms in Italy. As Elvis would say, “There’s a whole lot o’ hovering going on.” The lack of toilet seats raises a number of existential questions. Where have all the toilet seats gone? Were they at an Italian toilet seat convention in Vegas during the time we were there? Had they been grabbed as a result of extraordinary rendition and sent to Gitmo for further questioning? Experienced American tourists were easily recognizable because they were the ones wearing the Wal-Mart toilet seats around their necks.
        We took a boat out to Murano Island where they make very expensive glass to sell to tourists. Murano resembles what Key West would look like after an apocalypse on the U.S. mainland. The buildings are a bit tired, probably from being hundreds of years old and the tourists are gone. We managed to miss the last direct boat back to Venice and accordingly took the local vaporetto ferry.
        The winding return route took us by San Michele Island which is the cemetery where Venetians finished with their earthly duties go to be buried in above ground crypts like in New Orleans. Famous deceased dudes Igor Stravinsky and Ezra Pound are spending eternity in the Cimitero. Having an island of the dead floating just offshore from the lively teeming streets of Venice is a bit jarring and not necessarily reassuring. As an example of Italian dark humor, there is a sculpture of two large green figures in a gondola floating in the water near the Cimitero. The lead figure is standing up and pointing toward the Cimitero as if telling Venice and its visitors that is where they will all end up. I think the seated figure in the rear of the boat is telling the pointing guy to sit down and return to Venice for a final glass of wine. As Hemingway once said, “It must have been pretty to think so.”
        Next, on to Florence, and not Florence, S.C.

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        {mosimage}Have you noticed on the Web sites of the big-box retailers there is a link entitled “What’s In The Box?” One click and you get a list of all the items you will get in the box when delivered or purchased at the store. The question is “What’s Not In The Box?” The answer is simple — service.
        After you have selected your item and proceeded to the “checkout,” you then get the service option, at a cost in addition to the purchase price of the item and “What’s In The Box?” A recent check on the Web sites of four different electronics retailers (all in Fayetteville) had service plans for the same item but a different cost on each site. The range was from $22 a year to $50 a year. Some have in-store service departments and others in which you have to call a toll-free number and then it’s “Pay attention as our menu options have changed recently….”
        I recently went to one of these retailers to purchase an item that was in a box about 3’ x 3’ in size, and weighed about 25 lb.. At the checkout counter the clerk asked if I wanted the service plan. As I deliberated, she mentioned “If you don’t buy it, then you will have to return the item to the manufacturer for service.”
    Notice the “you will have to return” part. Better save the box, just in case.
        On another occasion, a TV that I purchased came with a relatively inexpensive service plan (less than those above). When it stopped working properly, I called the toll-free number on the service plan agreement (I actually found it!) and I was told it would be repaired locally at a company I did not know. After two weeks I called to check on the status only to find out, after several attempts, that the repair company had lost their contract with the retailer because of, you guessed, it, poor service.
        Before the advent of the big-box folks, you bought your electronics and appliances from a local merchant who in most cases had grown up in the area, knew you, and if it broke, you took it to them or a repair facility with the same type of ownership and local connections. They either came to your house or made it right in the store, and didn’t extract from you a multi-year service plan for that SERVICE. They knew how to keep customers. When you called, they answered the phone, you were not put on hold, and they called you by name. Some of these folks are still in business and still give that same service because THEY come in the box. When your product doesn’t work, you give them a call and usually within 24 hours someone you know is at your door.
        Granted that the smaller retailers now have a service charge to come to your house, but you don’t pay it until you need it. With the big-box folks, you pay it regardless, and whether it’s on the phone or at the counter, how may times does the first person you talk to know how to resolve your problem? It’s always “You will need to speak to my supervisor.... He/she will be back in a few minutes.”
        The key is what comes in the box — toll-free numbers and long lines or someone you know.

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        Since the spring of this year, the Dicksons have been attending weddings.                                                                        We have been to one almost every weekend since June, some in Fayetteville and some out of town, some in churches and some in lovely outdoor settings. I even have an outfit I have come to think of as my “wedding dress.” All the brides and bridesmaids are beautiful and all the grooms and groomsmen handsome. Sitting in various pews and folding chairs, I have been pondering this nuptial surge and have realized, yet again, the cyclical nature of life.
        {mosimage}Three decades or so ago, we were doing exactly the same thing.
        Then the brides and grooms were our friends and contemporaries. Now they are the friends and contemporaries of our children, young people we have watched grow up and, in some instances, loved as our own. A lot has occurred in between.
        Shortly after we attended our first round of weddings three decades or so ago, we began receiving fewer of those invitations and more to a different sort of social event — the baby shower. It has been a while, but I remember these occasions as fairly staid and fairly scripted, with the mother-to-be opening presents and exclaiming over various baby items. These tiny things were usually pale yellow or pale green since knowing one’s baby’s gender before she announced herself was unusual. Most of the time, the dads were not present, but if they were, they were generally in another room watching a sporting event. Small green and yellow items were not of much interest.        
        Next came the ubiquitous birthday parties.
        These, of course, were far more energetic affairs, and I remember many of them vividly. We marked such happy occasions at bowling alleys, miniature golf courses, skating rinks and in backyards all over Fayetteville. There were cakes, candles and party-favor bags of candy, pencils and other goodies appealing to young children. The first mobile phone I ever saw arrived at one of these parties. The chatting mother had come to pick up her child, and, much to my amazement, she talked into what seems now like an enormous phone the entire time as she located her son and walked him out the door with a friendly wave but nary a word to me as they departed. Sometimes the birthday boy or girl was simply overwhelmed by the long-awaited occasion and was unable to contain his or her emotions or behavior. My most vivid memory of this occurred in our own yard when our just-turned-5-year-old was overcome by the excitement of having a Fayetteville Police Department K-9 unit visit that he lost it altogether and had to be excused to his room. I can still see a little nose pressed to the window as he watched his guests watching the dog as they ate ice cream cones.
        Think the Berenstain Bears book Too Much Birthday.
        The dreaded sleepover birthday deserves a column by itself.
        Then came graduations of all sorts.
        The first graduation I remember was from a Fayetteville Parks and Recreation summer program in Mazarick Park, and the young grads wore paper plate mortar boards held on by colored yarn on their heads. There were other graduations from pre-school and special programs of all sorts, but the big ones were high school and then college, with one of our precious jewels still working on that one. These are occasions guaranteed to bring tears to a mother’s eyes, along with many laments about how our little ones who once wore little yellow and green things and paper plates on their noggins became so grown up.
    The real question, of course, is how they grew from our arms into independent human beings when nothing happened to us.
        And now we have come full circle.
        The brides and grooms I see now will always, in some ways, be children to me. I changed some of their diapers. I dried some of their tears. I put bandages on some of their scrapes. I drove them in carpools and cooked pancakes for them on Saturday mornings. I knew when they made A’s on their report cards, and I knew when they were in trouble at school or at home. I miss their regular presence in our house, dirty socks on the floor and all.
        Mostly, though, I am shocked and awed at the people they have become.
        These brides and grooms have prepared for and are now executing their life plans. They have had bumps in the road with schools which did not accept them and jobs they did not get, but they are moving on, just as we did. The trappings of their world, mostly in the form of technology and communication, are faster and easier than ours, but the core values of family and community are solidly in place.
        I check my mailbox every day and look forward to an invitation to a baby shower.

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    County’s Safe Water Task Force Makes Progress

    (Editor’s Note: James Martin is the county manager for Cumberland County.)
        The Fayetteville Observer, in recent editorial columns, has charged Cumberland County staff with being both “secretive” and “barely adequate” in their response to the challenge of providing potable water throughout the county, especially those areas with contaminated wells. These charges are inaccurate and perhaps even mean-spirited. The Observer fails to acknowledge the ongoing and unrelenting work being devoted to solving this problem. Public servants are often fairly and unfairly maligned, but the newspaper should not demean the very good beginning that has been made.  {mosimage}
        The Safe Water Task Force was formed immediately after the problem of well-water contamination became known at a public hearing on a zoning matter on Feb. 19. The task force brought together professionals with expertise and responsibility about water issues, and set to work right away on defining the challenge, determining the tasks needing to be accomplished to move forward, and in building a record of the task force’s findings. (The Fayetteville Observer has been provided minutes of the task force meetings, a public record, when they have requested them.) To date, the task force has met four times and made an initial and a subsequent interim report at public, televised meetings of the board of commissioners. To say the task force is “secretive” is unfair — these were legal meetings of state and county staff members. The task force meetings are no more “secretive” than the Observer’s internal consideration of how to deal with the letter from a possible murder suspect in the tragic Touma case.
        The board of commissioners has appropriated $2.25 million this fiscal year to address critical water contamination issues and begin preparing engineering design requirements to extend water in the county. Also, the county has signed a contract with an engineer to design a water line to the Southpoint neighborhood.
        The county has met with the Town of Hope Mills and PWC staff to begin a project to bring a water line to the Brooklyn Circle neighborhood.
        Preliminary engineering design work is under way to bring sewer to the Overhills Park community for which federal grant funding has been authorized, though not yet appropriated.
        In a parallel effort, the Eastover Sanitary District is undertaking a project to extend its water lines east to the Sampson County line.
        County staff has begun creating a countywide integrated digital database for water lines and water contamination problems. 
        County staff has held productive discussions with water providers in the region including PWC, Eastover Sanitary District, Harnett County, Robeson County and Bladen County, about potential cooperative efforts to extend water lines.
    Communication between state and local agencies is being addressed and has improved.
        The board of commissioners adopted a policy requiring testing of wells in new subdivisions that are within 1,000 feet of contaminated ground water sites.
        In short, there is a lot going on. A fair-minded view of all this activity shows that the board of commissioners and county staff are giving water issues their top priority and utmost efforts.
        But the Observer has chosen to focus not on progress but on maligning the county for not inviting a reporter to a task force meeting of staff members. It is both legal and the customary practice of local governments in North Carolina to exclude the media from internal staff meetings. The newspaper even goes so far as to suggest that there should have been a reporter present at my recent meeting with the public health director about communication between the health department and state agencies, even though I had released to a reporter prior to this meeting both my memorandum to the public health director on this topic and the public health director’s response.
        {mosimage}The challenge of providing clean water will take time and money — and citizen support — as every commissioner has publicly recognized. It will be an expensive challenge, one that voters must support in a future bond vote in order to pay for clean water. We all remember that voters rejected a water and sewer bond referendum in 1994. The Observer has recently reported that there are still homeowners in Cumberland County who do not want to pay for having clean water piped into their neighborhoods.
        The county’s staff is wrestling with ways to address this priority for the county’s citizens. Private meetings are not necessarily “secret” meetings, and works in progress are not necessarily “bungled efforts.” Our progress will not be accelerated by mean-spirited criticism from our local newspaper. The first, necessary steps toward solutions are well underway.

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        When you think about the world’s most important resource your mind obviously jumps to oil. Wrong answer. Scientists tell us the world’s most important resource is water — clean, potable drinking water.
        For those of us living in the United States, that seems like an absurd idea. Everybody has water — but does everybody have clean water? The answer in Cumberland County is a resounding “NO.”
        Contamination of ground water is an issue that our county is going to have to face sooner, rather than later. Already, contaminated wells are cropping up throughout the county. For those affected, there are no easy answers. And for those who live in the vicinity, I would think that sleep would not come easy either.
        Like cancer, contaminated ground water tends to seep. It doesn’t remain in just one place, it moves, and the contamination grows. So, while today there may only be a handful of wells that are affected, what will that count be in six weeks, six months or six years? {mosimage}
        Cumberland County leaders do not have time to sit and wait to find out that answer. In fact, the county as a whole has waited too long. The county first began kicking around the idea of a countywide water system in 1969. Almost 40 years later, we’re back at the drawing board — kicking around the idea.
        Cumberland County’s biggest failure over the past century has been its inability to plan for the future. Instead, we sit back and wait for it to happen, and when a problem rears its head, like the issue of clean water, we’re left standing with our pants down. It doesn’t have to be this way.
        The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners exercised responsible government when they formed the Safe Water Task Force in February. The task force will, at some point in the near future, report back to the board on what it is has found and make recommendations for the best way Cumberland County can ensure that all of its citizens have clean water.
        At that point, the board must show their political will to do the right thing for the citizens of the county, but to a grea extent it falls into the laps of the citizens of Cumberland County. The commissioners can pursue grants and they can put a bond referendum forward to help fund the estimated $120 million it will take to pay for a countywide water system. But that’s all they can do.
        Then it will be in the hands of the voters who will have to decide what is more important — is it money or their very health? Each individual is going to have to answer some hard questions. What is it worth to you to know that the water you’re drinking is clean? What is it worth to you to know that you are not unknowingly poisoning your children? What is your neighbor’s life worth?
    Think about it.

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        I last wrote you upon learning my wife had three previous husbands, not two. After enduring her lies and spending issues, plus having her deny me sex for seven years (starting with a sharp elbow in my chest when I tried to spoon), I’m out. I’m thrilled it’s over, but terrified to start a relationship and possibly repeat the horror.
           —Some Encouragement, Please

        On seven separate occasions, Bank of America’s tellers handed out a total of $12,000 of my money to thieves, including a woman with missing teeth and a fake driver’s license in my name with the wrong expiration date. Meanwhile, their spokeslady, Betty Riess, brags to the media that they have “multiple layers of security.” Uh, such as...asking a thief whether she’d like my money in $10s, $20s or $100s? You probably have a similar method for vetting women — pretty much just hoping they are who they claim to be.     The good news is, finding an honest woman isn’t a crap shoot. Just be vigilant. Listen, observe, analyze. Take your time. Most people can’t entirely hide who they are unless you help by closing your eyes and crossing your fingers — behavior that can lead to dangerous unprotected sex; in your case, spooning without a hockey goalie chest guard.

    The Course of True Love
        I work at a big supermarket. I’m 21, and have a hot co-worker who’s 42. (I love older women!) I want to tell her I’m looking for a little bit of a girlfriend and sex, and see if she’s into it. I know I should show confidence without being cocky, and be direct, but what else?
                                —Very Interested

        By all means, be direct: Perhaps mention that she’s getting on in years, but you’re kinda into the older meat. And then, just get to it: “I’m looking for a little bit of a girlfriend and sex.” Surely, she’ll take it in stride: “Oh, that’s in aisle four, next to the hot cereals.” Of course, there’s another direct approach -- ask her out for a beer. Even if she senses what you’re after, as long as it isn’t spoken, you can both pretend you’re just thirsty and wondering whether she is, too. Depending on how drinks go, either give her a friendly hug goodnight or try to kiss her in the parking lot. Whatever happens, make it your policy never to blurt out exactly what you want from a woman -- that is, unless you’re trying to see whether you can afford her services.

    Got a problem? Write Amy Alkon, 171 Pier Ave, #280, Santa Monica, CA  90405, or e-mail AdviceAmy@aol.com (www.advicegoddess.com)

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        The European Union allows fruits and vegetables to be sold only in prescribed sizes and colors (such as its 35 pages of regulations governing 250 varieties of the apple, or rules that cucumbers must be straight and bananas curved). In June, British marketer Tim Down complained that he was forced to discard 5,000 kiwi fruit because they were 1 millimeter in diameter too small and one-fourth ounce too light. (It is illegal even to give them away, as that would undermine the market price.) “Improvements” in the EU system continue, according to a July Washington Post dispatch from Brussels: Despite 10 pages of standards on the onion and 19 amendments, the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture recently issued a report urging further refinements, using 29 pages and 43 photographs.

    GREAT ART!
        Artist Michael Fernandes’ exhibit in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in June caused a commotion because it was merely a banana on a gallery’s window sill, and Fernandes had it priced at $2,500 (Cdn) (down from his original thought, $15,000). Actually, Fernandes changed bananas every day (eating the old one), placing progressively greener ones out to demonstrate the banana’s transitoriness. “We (humans) are also temporal, but we live as if we are not,” he wrote. Despite the steep price, two collectors placed holds on the “work,” requiring the gallery’s co-owner, Victoria Page, to get assurance from callers. “It’s a banana; you understand that it’s a banana?”

    GOVERNMENT IN ACTION
        In May, the school board in Barrie, Ontario, notified Children’s Aid Society to intervene with mother Colleen Leduc and her daughter Victoria, 11, because of suspected sexual abuse, angering the conscientious Leduc, who until that point had taken extraordinary measures to protect the girl, who is autistic. Upon investigation, it was revealed that the suspicion came from a teaching assistant who said her psychic had told her that a girl with a “V” in her name was being abused by a man aged 23 to 26. Leduc now refuses to trust Victoria to public schools because “they might want to take out a Ouija board or hold a seance.”


    PRISONER POWER
        The June transfer of a prisoner from lockup to Britain’s Northampton Crown Court, just across the street, required summoning the closest prison van (57 miles away) to come give him a ride. The prisoner (accused thief Mark Bailey) could not simply be walked across the street because officials feared that public, custodial exposure (a “perp walk”) would embarrass him, in violation of his “human rights.”

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        Summer is going by quickly and fall will be coming soon. This is prime time to enjoy the state by riding and camping. To help you prepare for a camping trip I’ll give you some tips on your packing list.{mosimage}
    First, you need to make sure you have bags for your bike or some way to transport the camping equipment. It does not take long to fill up a bike. Space quickly becomes prime real estate. Next, create a packing list. Write it out and make additions and deletions as needed. Here is a list of items you will want to take:  air mattress, camp saw, candles, collapsible chair, compass, cord, ground cloth, hatchet, Swiss Army knife or Leatherman, lantern, matches/lighter, sacks and/or bags, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, stakes/rope, tent and toilet paper.
        For cooking: camp stove and fuel, can opener, coffee making stuff, condiments, cooking pots/pans, corkscrew, cup(s), dish soap and pad, dish towel, drinks, food, garbage/trash bags, knife/fork/spoons, water bottle(s), coffee, salt and pepper and sugar and creamer.
        Bike items: bike cover, saddlebags, boots and socks, scarf, bungee cords, spare bulbs, cargo net, spare fuses, chain oil/wax, spare key(s), earplugs, tank bag, gloves, tire patch kit, helmet, tool kit, jackets, totes, windshield cleaner, Leatherman tool, lock/security stuff, oil, rain gear and rain gloves.
    Personal stuff: medications, brush, shampoo, casual clothes, shaving kit, chapstick, soap, comb, sunglasses, contact lenses and cleaner, toothbrush and toothpaste, dental floss, towel, waterless hand cleaner, Wet Ones, deodorant, towel/washcloth, fanny pack, backpack, Kotex/tampons and reading glasses.
        Clothing items: sports bras, sweatshirt(s), cycling shorts, swimsuit, hat/sun visor, T-shirts, jeans, tennis shoes/sandals, polypro underwear, underwear, shirts, shorts, socks, sweater(s).
        Information items: binoculars, palmtop computer, book(s), paper & pencil/pen, camera & accessories, passport/ID, cell phone & charger, phone list, cellular modem, radar detector, diary, registrations papers, drivers, license, mp3 player, GPS, tickets/passes, Insurance, travel guide(s), Intercom, laptop computer, maps, membership cards. Remember to take hard copies of your itinerary in the event you can’t get computer connections or something happens to your electronic equipment.
        Miscellaneous items: ear plugs, travel pillow, bug repellent, sewing kit, cable ties, snake-bite kit, cash/travelers check/ATM card, credit card(s), quarters, space blanket, stamps for postcards, duct tape, sunscreen, extra batteries, Super Glue, first aid kit, flashlight, freezer bags (for packing/waterproofing), Ibuprofen/Tylenol, rubber bands and poncho to cover your equipment.
        If there is a topic that you would like to discuss please send your comments and suggestions to motorcycle4fun@aol.com. RIDE SAFE!

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    X-Files: I Want To Believe (Rated PG-13)

        Chris Carter made a bad choice. I Want to Believe (100 minutes) might have worked as a one-hour episode in the middle of a season. It does not work as a stand alone feature-length film released the weekend after Dark Knight. It is truly painful only because all the elements of the beloved series are present…. Scully’s (Gillian Anderson) hardcore skepticism mixed in with her strong religious faith, Mulder’s (David Duchovny) brilliant intuitive leaps combined with an openness to extra-normal explanations, the creepy camera work and spot on musical cues are just as they should be. The chemistry between the two leads is marvelous to behold, and rediscovering the characters is worth watching the film. Worth watching, that is, until the last 20 minutes or so, when the passable up until that point plot disintegrates into the kind of absurdity normally reserved for low budget B-movies.
        {mosimage}Six years after Mulder (Duchovny) and Scully (Anderson) left the FBI, she is working at a Catholic hospital and he clips newspaper stories about strange events. While wrestling with the moral issues inherent to treating a terminally ill child with an unproved and painful remedy, Scully is contacted by an FBI agent who wants Mulder’s assistance on an abduction case involving Father Joseph Crissman (Billy Connolly), a psychic with an unexplained connection to the case. At first, Mulder is reluctant to work with Agent Whitney (Amanda Peet) and Agent Drummy (Xzibit), but he soon becomes obsessed with the mystery and is drawn deeper and deeper into the case while Scully tries to distance herself from the violent case and focus on her medical career. As tempting as it is to offer more plot detail, if only to mock the disappointing finale, there is a substantial amount of suspense generated from the film’s early promise. If you are able to refrain from leaving the theater in disgust as soon as the credits role, than there is a post-credit scene to look forward to (which I missed).
        There are some nice secondary roles, including Battlestar Galactica’s Callum Keith Rennie and, reprising his role as Walter Skinner, Mitch Pileggi.
        References to the original series are sprinkled throughout the film, including a reference to William, Mulder and Scully’s little boy, pencils in the ceiling, and a heaping dish of sunflower seeds. Some of the less successful elements of the series are left out (i.e. alien conspiracy and Agent Moronica); even so, Scully manages to name check Mulder’s long lost sister early in the film.
        The characters have aged, no doubt about it. Mulder seems a shadow of his former self, and bits of his Californication persona show through the seams. Luckily, he is still hot, as is Gillian Anderson, who, impossible as it seems, has actually grown even more attractive since the series end.
        I Want to Believe is not an example of bad film, and in fact, it almost works despite the somewhat ridiculous premise. However, perhaps because it is based on a series with a strong mythology and truly memorable characters, it is a film that fails to distinguish itself.

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    Inspector Lynley crumbles on his way out the door

        Mystery! just ended Foyle’s War with a yawn. The Inspector Lynley series also ends this summer, but what a difference. This week’s episode, the second-to-last (Sunday, 9 p.m., PBS), is almost unbearably tense and tragic.
        When Inspector Lynley began in 2001, Detective Thomas Lynley (Nathaniel Parker) was a cool customer. Handsome, reserved, upper-crust — he was born on top of the world and seemed destined to stay there. But cracks slowly appeared in his façade, and by now it has completely crumbled. Lynley’s wife was murdered right in front of him, and he starts this season a wreck. He’s on leave from the force, drinking himself to death and seeing a psychologist. “She asked me to draw my grief,” he tells his loyal partner, Detective Havers (Sharon Small).
        Clearly, it will take more than drawing to pull Lynley out of his pit. It will take the discovery of a corpse — that of a little boy who disappeared 12 years ago. Lynley is a friend of the boy’s parents, and he throws himself into this cold case. It soon heats up again, spectacularly so, and Lynley himself gets burned. Before he knows it, a woman mysteriously dies and he’s accused of her murder.
        No, our hero will not be allowed to make a graceful exit. Fasten your seatbelts; the series finale is Aug. 17.

    CRISS ANGEL MINDFREAK{mosimage}
    Wednesday, 10 p.m. (A&E)
        Magician Criss Angel places an ad seeking people who are skeptical of his supposed supernatural abilities. He invites the skeptics to lead him to four elevator doors. Behind three of them are regular elevators, while the other one hides an empty shaft. Blindfolded, Criss must decide which of the three elevators are safe to enter.
        If he chooses wrong, he dies. If he chooses right, the skeptics must admit that he has magical powers. And that Santa Claus is real, too.

    OLYMPICS OPENING CEREMONY
    Friday, 8 p.m. (NBC)
        Once again, the Olympics sets up shop in a repressive country. The choice of China for the summer games has sparked worldwide outrage, and the touchy Chinese authorities may not be able to keep a lid on dissent as the international community floods into Beijing. Some of the fastest times all week may be clocked by protesters fleeing government goons.

    TRUE CONFESSIONS OF A HOLLYWOOD MADAM
    Saturday, 9 p.m. (Lifetime)
        Joanne “JoJo” Levesque walks, talks and acts like Lindsay Lohan in a TV movie about a teen actress who parties till she drops — literally, face first on the red carpet. Morgan is rushed to rehab, then to Indiana to live incognito with her regular-gal aunt (Valerie Bertinelli). You can connect the dots from there. Morgan begins her Midwestern adventure snobby and cynical, but slowly warms to normal life. The Indiana dreamboat arrives right on cue.
       

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        The Crown Coliseum has had very few sold-out shows in recent years. Coliseum officials can always count on wrestling to fill seats, and last fall they learned that country music can also pack the stands. {mosimage}
    I happened to be at both of those packed country shows last year — the CMT Tour featuring Sugarland, and again, when Reba and Kelly brought the house down. Both shows were great, but I have to say the Sugarland concert was my favorite.
        Sugarland, the Atlanta duo formed by Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush, put on one heck of a show. Their energy level was through the roof and their connection to the audience was genuine. That probably comes from the years they were playing in small bars and honky tonks throughout the South. On top of all that, they were just plain fun — everything from Nettles’ over-the-top southern drawl to Bush’s crazed guitar. So, with that in mind, I was only too happy to check out their latest offering Love On the Inside. Released July 22, the new CD comes in two forms — a regular release and a deluxe fan edition. I opted for the fan edition, which has five extra songs (some of which were recorded during last year’s tour.)
        So before I give you my spin, let me be straight up and tell you that the CD has already hit the number two spot on Billboard’s Top Current Album list and has become the number one debut country album of the year. So that tells you about sales.
        Let me tell you about the album.
        Love On the Inside is a compilation of songs written by Bush and Nettles along with some of their friends. It’s a hard album to peg because the songs are so different — you have everything from the opening number “All I Want To Do,” which is really a pretty rollicking pop song, to the dyed-in-the-wool traditional country of “The Last Country Song,” to the romantic “Fall Into Me.” Having said that, I have to say that there will be songs on this offering that you will either love or hate. If you are a hardcore country fan, you’re going to think the band has sold-out with “All I Want to Do.” If you are more of a crossover country fan, then you aren’t going to like some of the mandolin-laced tunes. But you are going to find something you like.
        If I had not seen the band in action, I would probably have been turned off by “All I Want to Do.” But,  having seen their quirky, funny side, it comes across as the two just having a little fun. So I’m okay with it. I do not like it at 4 a.m. It’s way too perky.
        “The Very Last Country Song” pays tribute to the idea that if life were perfect, we wouldn’t need country music. It talks about change, loss and love – things that are pretty constant in our world. That’s probably why country music has been a constant.
        “Take Me as I Am,” a song about a hotel maid who wants to be loved just for who she is, allows Nettles’ voice to soar. Nettles’ voice is an instrument all by itself. She can hit some smokey low notes, but when she opens it up it truly fills an arena — or in my case, my Honda as I’m driving down the road. There’s a purity to her voice. It speaks of home, heartbreak and salvation.
        My favorite track on the record is “Fall Into Me.” The song is a love song, but it’s about the kind of love that makes you want to crawl into your lover’s skin and stay there until you know them from the inside out. (Not the crazy kind of take their skin off and wear it, but become so close you feel like you’re inside each other.) It talks about wanting to be the person to fill the void in the other, to be the person who you reach for first. It talks about forever and that can’t be too long.
        The other really cool part of the fan pack is the inclusion of albums recorded during last year’s tour. One song in particular (a remake of an ‘80s hit)  “Life in a Northern Town,” features all of the performers at the concert — Sugarland, Little Big Town and the new country heartthrob, Jake Owen. This track is totally out of keeping with the rest of the CD, but it’s a really, really good track. Check it out.

  • Details
    {mosimage}Dear EarthTalk: What’s going on in the music industry with all the CDs and plastic CD holders undoubtedly generating a lot of plastic waste?       
                                       — John S., via e-mail

        According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), CDs and DVDs are typically manufactured by combining various mined metals (aluminum, gold, silver and nickel) with petroleum-derived plastics, lacquers and dyes. Given what complicated beasts CDs and DVDs are — products with thin layers of different materials mixed together are nearly impossible to recycle — most municipal recycling programs won’t accept them, leaving consumers to fend for themselves in figuring out how to dispose of them. As a result, most discarded discs end up in the trash.
        These difficult-to-recycle materials can pollute groundwater and, in turn, contribute to a whole host of human health problems. But the low cost of producing such top-selling consumer items means that replacing them with something greener is not likely anytime soon.
        Research has shown that polylactic acid (PLA), a biodegradable plastic-substitute derived from corn and other agricultural wastes, could replace plastic polycarbonate as a disc’s main substrate, but the present high cost of using such a material makes it unlikely to catch on any time soon with those paying to produce mass volumes of CDs and DVDs.
        As for jewel cases, most are made out of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), an inexpensive petrochemical-based plastic that is notoriously difficult to recycle and has been linked to elevated cancer rates among workers and neighbors where it’s manufactured. Furthermore, when PVC is thrown in with regular recyclables it can contaminate entire batches, ruin equipment and cause human health problems. While cardboard and paper jewel cases may be all the rage among a few record labels — Warner Music Group’s U.S. division, for example, has been using 30 percent post-recycled paper for the packaging in all of its CDs and DVDs since 2005 — the high cost and low durability of such alternatives have kept them largely out of the mainstream.
    So what’s a conscientious consumer to do? Those willing to pay a small processing fee can send old CDs and DVDs to one of a handful of private companies (such as Washington-based GreenDisk) set up to recycle them into high-quality plastics used in auto parts, office equipment, alarm panels, street lights, electrical cable insulation, jewel cases and other specialized items.
        A shift in consumer preferences already underway may be just the thing that will make everyone’s personal collections of music and movies greener. Consumers are already able to download some six million individual digital songs via the 500 or so legal online music services now up and running on the Internet. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, digital sales now account for some 30 percent of all U.S. music sales and 15 percent globally. And most consumer analysts expect these percentages to grow steadily in the coming years, which is good news for the environment.
        CONTACTS: EPA’s “Lifecycle of a CD or DVD,” www.epa.gov/osw/students/finalposter.pdf; GreenDisk, www.greendisk.com; International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, www.ifpi.org.
        GOT AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/, or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php.

  • Details
        I’ve been asked how to fit a healthy fitness lifestyle into an already busy and hectic schedule. Especially now that kids are running to camps and we’re on vacation. Remember, an active lifestyle is more than visiting the gym for an hour or jumping around in the living room to an aerobics tape. If you get creative, you will find ways to incorporate movement into almost everything you do. Here are some suggestions to get you started and help you boost your activity level. If you make a conscious effort to add more activity into your daily life, it will become second nature. Give some of these suggestions a try:
        Walk as much as possible by parking the car a few blocks away from where you’re headed or walk to an appointment from your office instead of driving. Whenever you’re walking try to focus on long PURPOSEFUL strides that are quicker than normal pace. This gets the heart rate going a bit faster than just meandering along.
        {mosimage}Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Walk up the stairs as quickly as you can. For a little variation, try slowing down and taking two stairs at a time to further strengthen your legs.
        During breaks at work, walk the stairs, walk around the building or walk down the halls. Find any type of activity that keeps you moving during your break — you can sit at your desk and relax after the break!
    Whenever you’re walking somewhere, take the “long way around.” Use this technique to get anywhere you’re going from shopping at the mall to getting a drink at the water cooler.
        At the supermarket, if you don’t have too many bags, carry your own groceries out to the car without the shopping cart. And remember, park the car in a spot furthest from the store entrance but at night make sure it is in a well lit area.
        Work in a garden or the yard during the summer. Gardening will take your body through a whole range of movements.
        If you have children, or grandchildren, spend some quality time playing with them. Few things can jump-start your heart as quickly as trying to keep up with a child. Play catch, jump rope, play on the monkey bars, push them on the swing or have a foot race.
        Take lessons to learn how to play tennis, racquetball, golf or any other activity you think you might enjoy.
    Designate an area of your vehicle as “the locker room.” In that area (or box) put a pair of tennis shoes, clean socks, clean towel, Frisbee, tennis rackets, softball and gloves or any other items that strike your fancy. Whenever you’re out and about with a little extra time you can spontaneously stop off at a park to play catch, a tennis court for a game of tennis, or a walking path that’s calling you to explore it.
    Now stop reading this article and get out there and PLAY!

  • Details
        I recently attended a special political-discussion panel at North Carolina’s annual 4-H Congress in Raleigh. It included four stellar young panelists from the 4-H ranks and attracted the attention of hundreds of the state’s most-impressive and accomplished youth. {mosimage}
        There was a disquieting moment, however. The moderator asked the audience to identify themselves by a show of hands as Democrats, Republicans or something else. The party allegiances were roughly equal. Then, the host asked for supporters of Barack Obama to raise their hands. They did so with enthusiasm. Finally, he asked for supporters of John McCain to raise their hands. Almost as many did so, but they were jeered loudly by some of the Obama supporters. Several sitting close to me said they couldn’t believe anyone disagreed with Obama.
        I don’t relate the story to impugn anyone’s motives or preferences. Rather, I fear that many political partisans — and not just those youth who lack life experience — are letting their expectations get away from them. I know some Democrats who, like the young people I met Tuesday, will be bewildered and crushed if Obama is not elected the next president of the United States this fall.
        It’s great to believe passionately in a political cause or candidate. It’s not healthy, however, to discount or misunderstand one’s opposition and to draw unrealistic conclusions about the capacity of any one political leader to engineer radical change, for good or ill.
        With regard to the Obama-McCain contest itself, partisans ought to be cautious about assuming victory. There’s no question that the odds favor the Democrat, given President Bush’s low approval rating and general public angst. But it is entirely possible that McCain will end up winning a close November vote. A fair-minded observer would have to grant that Obama has little experience in Washington, in foreign and defense policy, or in running any large organization. His record is also one of the most left-leaning in the U.S. Senate. Swing voters could conceivably conclude that while they like the man, and would welcome the prospect of electing a non-white president, they should give McCain the edge based on experience or relative moderation.
        Similarly, while some conservatives and Republican partisans might believe that the 2006 Democratic surge was a fleeting response to bad luck and Bush administration incompetence, it would be foolish not to recognize what the available data and historical experience reveal. Political parties shouldn’t count on winning three back-to-back presidential elections in any event. Add in concern about gas prices, the economy, international tensions and other factors, and you can explain the current odds in Obama’s favor pointed, inherently. But each side ought at least to prepare itself against the possibility of shock.
        Although both men differ from Bush in important ways, neither will be capable of waving a magic wand to dispel economic turmoil or reduce energy prices. They may possess more knowledge or diplomatic skill, but neither is capable of dispelling most of today’s international tensions (Obama is personally popular abroad, for example, but some of his stated policies, particularly on free trade and Pakistan, will not be).
        The American constitutional system is dissimilar from parliamentary government in fundamental ways. Presidents aren’t guaranteed to have their legislation pass Congress intact, even when it is controlled by the same party. Elections are frequent and can be unpredictable, as the 1992-94 and 2004-06 periods demonstrate.
        It should be possible to care about politics without allowing political disagreements to become personal, or political expectations to soar so far into the stratosphere that they can only be brought back down to Earth with a devastating crash.

  • Details
        Six months ago, my first serious relationship ended. My ex, “Steve,” and I attend the same college, but rarely communicate anymore. It’s difficult, but for the best. The trouble is, my ex’s new love interest seems intent on becoming my friend. She friended me on Facebook, started calling me on my cell (a number I never gave her), and inserts herself into plans with mutual friends. She always mentions random facts about me that I don’t recall telling her, like, “Your parents have three dogs, right?” She compliments me then imitates what she compliments, like, “I love your highlights, can I have your stylist’s number?” I want to tell her things tanked with my ex for a reason, and becoming my clone, or even my friend, isn’t the best idea, but I’m uncomfortable discussing my ex with her and don’t feel over him enough to be comfortable getting close to her. For some reason, I’ve been too proud to share this with her. Yet, on my more charitable days, she seems sweet, and I don’t want to hurt her feelings. What boundaries are reasonable to set up?
        —Invaded

        When he looks deeply into the limpid pools of her eyes, does he say, “Baby, have I ever told you...my ex-girlfriend’s parents have three dogs?”
        Sure, that factoid could’ve flown out in casual conversation, but it isn’t just that factoid or others like it. It’s the combo platter of stuff — from friending you on Facebook to digging up your cell number to hijacking your hairdo — that makes this feel like a hostile takeover in the form of a girl-crush. Ok, she “seems sweet.” You know what they say: You catch more flies with honey. But, ask yourself this: How do you feel about being the fly? Go ahead and answer — if you don’t have to run off to have a latte with her to discuss Steve’s snoring.
        Of course she wants to be in your life — much like a deer tick wants to be in a dog. She’s probably not evil, but suspects she’s lacking in something he wants; something that might rub off on her if she spends enough time with you. She’s taking advantage of a tendency women have, especially 20-something women, to feel they have to be “nice” to anyone who has yet to, oh, call them a slut and push them off the roof of the student center. But, make no mistake, you’re not being nice. You’re being intimidated into a “friendship” that probably keeps you from moving on. You just broke up with your ex, and now you have to break up with his new girlfriend, too?
        Here’s a transcript of what should be the extent of your relationship with this girl: “Hey, how’s it going?” And then keep going. That probably doesn’t seem “charitable,” but I’m guessing you aren’t wearing a Santa suit and a big white beard and ringing a bell outside Target. You owe yourself first and foremost. Figure out what works for you, and if something doesn’t, don’t let it in your life. Yes, it’s that simple.

  • Details
        While Iran’s leaders saber-rattle and quote the Quran, the country’s multitudes of young adults are embracing New Age self-help, as exemplified by the best-selling books and sold-out seminars of motivational guru Alireza Azmandian, according to a June Wall Street Journal dispatch from Tehran. Though young adults in Turkey and Egypt have stepped up their religious fervor, that is not so in Iran. Said a 25-year-old aerospace engineer: “Religion doesn’t offer me answers anymore,” but “(Azmandian’s) seminar changed my life.” The Oprah Winfrey-touted book, The Secret, is in its 10th printing in Farsi; yoga and meditation are big; and advertising abounds on the virtues of feng shui and financial management.

    The Continuing Crisis
        Randall Popkes, 41, and his son Joshua Williams, 22, were arrested in West Des Moines, Iowa, in May and charged with an attempted safecracking at the Des Moines Golf and Country Club. A security officer had noted their license plate as they sped away after a frustrating session in which they had cut into the safe but could not open it.
        At press time, a court in Athens, Greece, was considering a challenge brought by three residents of the island of Lesbos in the Aegian Sea to prevent a Greek gay and lesbian organization from referring to homosexual women as lesbians, arguing that such usage insults their heritage, since Lesbos residents have traditionally been called “Lesbians.” On the other hand, Lesbos was also the birthplace of the poet Sappho, a heroic woman among gays and lesbians for her early references to her love of other women.

    Yikes!
        The Panda Chinese Restaurant in York, Penn., was already in trouble in an early June city sanitation inspection, with demerits piling up because of accumulated grease, insects in the seating area and rotting lettuce, according to a York Daily Record report. Then, in the middle of an inspector’s visit, he came upon a live snapping turtle in the restaurant’s main sink. Said the inspector, “I had to sit down and gather myself before I could speak.” The manager said he had seen the turtle outside and had brought it in for safety: “It was wrong that we put it in the sink.”

    Family Values
        Spare the Gun (Hammer), Spoil the Child: Darrell Walker, 30, was arrested in Bartlesville, Okla., in May after his 8-year-old son told police that his dad routinely shoots him (and his younger sister) in the leg with a BB gun if they misbehave.
        Robert Cisero, 46, was arrested in Medford, Ore., in June after (according to police) he hit his teenage daughter in the ankle with a hammer to feign a “skating” injury, for which she could get a prescription for pain medication, which he then commandeered.

  • Details
        Have you noticed the large number of mopeds, scooters and motorcycles on the road these days? My prediction is you will be seeing more. With the price of gas going higher and the price of insurance going up, people will be forced to find cheaper means of transportation. Two wheeled vehicles provide higher miles per gallon gas averages. Motorcycles range from 35 to 50 mpg and scooters can average up to 85 to 100 mpg.
        So what is the difference between a moped, scooter and motorcycle? A moped is usually defined by its legal classification and definitions differ state-by-state. In North Carolina motorbikes under 50 cubic centimeters are considered mopeds. Bikes that exceed 50 cc’s are considered scooters or motorcycles.
        Scooters are like motorcycles and require a license, tags and insurance. The difference between a scooter and a motorcycle is also defined by law. The big difference is capabilities. Scooters are generally less powerful and have a one-piece frame. I say generally because there are some manufactures that are producing scooters that exceed 600 cc!
         {mosimage}According to the N.C. Department of Transportation Web site, “You must be age 16 or older to operate a moped on North Carolina highways or public vehicular areas. A driver’s license is not required, and the moped does not have to be registered, inspected or covered by liability insurance. A motorcycle safety helmet is required by law when operating a moped on North Carolina highways. A moped cannot have an external shifting device or have the capability of exceeding 30 mph on a level surface.”
        Scooters are relatively easy to operate and most scooters are now automatic. If you’ve never ridden one before it is pretty easy — you just need a little balance and hand and feet coordination. When you look at the cc level, consider your travel distance and your weight and body size. The larger you are the more engine will be needed to move you. You will need to decide if you want a 2-stroke or 4-stroke engine. The 2-stroke engine requires you to mix gas and oil to run correctly. New models use oil injection systems that allow the mixture to happen automatically. Since you are burning oil and gas together you will have more smoke from this engine. The 4-stroke runs like a car and uses regular unleaded gas and is more ecologically acceptable.
        Consider storage. If you are using it to get to work you may need a place to store work items and your riding gear. The laws are also dependent on the type of bike you use. The moped is treated like a bicycle and a motorcycle. You must follow the traffic laws, you cannot drive on a sidewalk and you must wear a helmet. A scooter is treated the same as a motorcycle and the same laws apply.
        Finally, take a motorcycle class. No matter what you are driving the class will teach the rules of the road.
        If there is a topic that you would like to discuss, please send your comments and suggestions to motorcycle4fun@aol.com.

  • Details

    The Dark Knight (Rated PG-13) FIVE STARS

        Batman Begins had a better story, but in every other way The Dark Knight(152 minutes) surpasses the previous film. Christopher Nolan does everything right; Christian Bale manages to capture both Bruce Wayne and Batman; Gary Oldman plays Gordon with the perfect mix of cynicism and optimism; and, Maggie Gyllenhaal is a welcome replacement for the clunky Katie Holmes. Heath Ledger does the seemingly impossible, playing The Joker as a psychotic anarchist, without inviting unfavorable comparisons to Jack Nicholson’s take on the character. The only fly in the ointment is the somewhat inadequate characterization of Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent. In an otherwise passable film, no one would notice that Harvey Dent is poorly written, but this film is spectacular, which makes all the errors, however minor, stand out.
        Bruce Wayne/Batman (Bale) continues to terrorize the criminal’s of Gotham with his intense raspy voice and newly redesigned Batsuit. Both Alfred (Michael Caine) and Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) work behind the scenes, supplying him with wisdom and nifty gadgets, respectively. Lt. Jim Gordon (Oldman) has teamed up with new District Attorney Harvey Dent (Eckhart) to take a decisive stand against Gotham’s organized crime, which is working well until The Joker (Ledger) surfaces. The Joker is not interested in money, but in destroying the tenuous moral fiber of Gotham’s embattled citizenry and corrupting symbols of law and order. The primary plot is nicely supplemented by two subplots: a love triangle and a morality play. 
    The love triangle between Wayne, Dent and Rachel Dawes (Gyllenhaal) treads dangerously close to cliché, but is redeemed when it is resolved in a somewhat surprising way. There is a slight issue with Gyllenhaal’s “damsel in distress” character; even so, she manages to inject some empowerment into a relatively small role.  {mosimage}
        While The Joker represents the ultimate in murderous evil, there are shades of gray to Batman, Dent, and even average citizens. Are symbols more important than truth? Is it moral to suspend civil rights to save lives? Audiences will leave the theater pondering these types of questions, and it is safe to leave — sadly there are no nifty extras awaiting the vigilant during the credits.
        From an artistic standpoint, Gotham is filmed as a city in balance between night and day. While Batman Begins seemed to focus on the city at night, here there are some truly startling transitions between the light and the dark. There is even one scene in which The Joker is briefly shown without his makeup in the full light of day — so briefly that the entire audience seemed to gasp.     
        Despite the flawlessly balanced components, nothing is perfect. Some scenes went on a little too long without adding anything to the overall impact. Towards the end of the movie, when “Batvision” (really) is introduced, I started getting a headache. The Harvey Dent subplot is weak, and played with a little too much square jawed heroism to make the character’s action later in the film truly believable. 

  • Details

    Flashpoint shoots first and asks questions later

        The line between good and bad cop shows is often thin. At first glance, Flashpoint(Friday, 10 p.m., CBS) seems like a standard entry in the genre: The members of a Strategic Response Unit deal with conflicts at home while handling hostage situations at work. But this series is a cut above.
        You’re struck by the lack of flashy quick cuts and roaring rock music during a crisis. That’s always been the easy way to build excitement, but Flashpointchooses the hard way: getting inside the characters’ heads, both cops and criminals. There’s an eerie calm as the police surround a man with a gun and the snipers take their place on the rooftops. A trigger is pulled; a bad guy lies dead on the concrete; a sense of regret sets in. The snipers’ disorientation is palpable, and is mirrored in the filmmaking. Sound recedes and time slows. Even the criminal is granted a moment of humanity as a family member mourns over his corpse.
        {mosimage}Flashpoint is a rarity among TV cop shows. It doesn’t take killing lightly.

    The Fairly Oddparents
    Friday, 8 p.m. (Nickelodeon)
        The twisted toon about fairy godparents weighs in with a timely parody. A rogues’ gallery of supernatural creatures participates in the Fairy World Games, which are just like the Olympics. Events include cloud diving, rainbow jumping and the one-million-year dash.
        The Fairy World Games’ motto is “cheaters never win, and winners never cheat.” In that sense, I guess, they aren’t exactly like the Olympics.
     
    Long Way Down
    Saturday, 9 p.m. (Fox Reality)
        This charming series will chronicle Ewan McGregor’s 15,000-mile motorcycle trip with his friend Charley Boorman. They plan to ride from the northern tip of Scotland to the southern tip of Africa, passing through 18 countries. “Like a boy, I’m excited,” Ewan chirps, while Charley makes motorcycle noises with his lips.
        The friends’ enthusiasm is infectious. It’s also slightly mad. The first episode covers the preparations for the trip, and it’s filled with more bad omens than Macbeth. There’s trouble getting passports. A rash of kidnappings breaks out in Ethiopia, forcing Ewan and Charley to take a hostage-training course. Ewan breaks his leg in a motorcycle accident. Charlie is detained by police at an airport and misses the flight to the Scottish starting point. Finally, his wife’s lung collapses just before the trip begins.
        You’d think that would be the last straw. But nothing will stop these insanely determined adventurers. “If we canceled the trip, it would just put her under more stress,” Charley reasons.
        You can rest assured that, short of nuclear apocalypse, these two will make it to South Africa. Actually, even with nuclear apocalypse.

    The Two Coreys
    Sunday, 10 p.m. (A&E)
        The Two Coreys is about former child stars who happen to be named Corey. Nowadays, that’s enough of a hook to build a reality series around. Corey Feldman and Corey Haim were in a few movies together back in the day, and now they’re both a couple of bums. In this week’s episode, they enter therapy to try to rebuild their friendship. Later, Feldman invites Haim to his house, where Haim is shocked to discover an intervention. He denies having a substance-abuse problem and storms out of the room. Both Coreys decide that this marks the end of their fragile relationship.
        And I’ve decided it marks the end of my fragile relationship with The Two Coreys.

  • Details
        Richard Allman doesn’t have to worry about what kind of legacy he’s leaving for his son.
    Allman and his boy, Derek, have left their mark together, creating music captured for posterity on a CD entitled Temporarily Breathing.
        The Allmans, along with father and son team Allen and David Diffee, recently released the self-produced CD under the aptly titled band name Fathers and Sons. It’s a disc that crosses the generational gap, proving that good music is good music, no matter your age.
        Richard, 50, who currently lives in Raleigh, says Derek, 21, has always been interested in music, having formed a band with David Diffee called Stitch which toured and even won a battle of the bands contest here in Fayetteville, playing its own brand of Generation X rock. But then Derek attended college and learned there is much more to the musical lexicon than Staind, Chevelle and Mudvayne.
    “He went to college and ‘got educated,’” said Richard, who has been playing music off and on with partner Allen Diffee since 1980. “He came home and said, ‘you know, Dad, Bob Dylan is pretty good. The Beatles are pretty good.’”
        Derek’s epiphany about the timelessness of good music led all four to retreat to Richard’s basement studio to create a CD chock full of influences from rock’s biggest names — Dylan to John Fogerty, the Allman Brothers (no relation) to Pearl Jam.
        The resulting musical stew is a pot of feel good rock ‘n’ roll, utilizing a wide range of instruments including electric and acoustic guitars, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, harmonica and jaw harp.
        Perhaps the best track on the CD, which is consistently good from beginning to end, is “Days in July,” a rollicking number that is infused by multi-instrumentalist Richard’s rolling banjo and saturated with upbeat and heartfelt lyrics such as “With a little bit of love and patience everything will be all right/Like Days in July it will never be cold outside.”
        Fair warning: If you’re a fan of the painfully introspective beats of shoegaze rock or the kill ‘em all attitude of death metal, this probably isn’t the disc for you.
        The band keeps things percolating on “Questions for a Simple Man,” implementing a multi-guitar attack reminiscent of Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Outlaws, then kicking it into Allman Brothers territory with Dickie Betts-approved licks from Richard and some excellent slide work by Derek that is reminiscent of the late, great Duane Allman.
        Derek’s plaintive fiddle stands out on “A Lot of Good People,” offset by a chiming acoustic that brings to mind Roger McGuinn and the Byrds. Again, the lyrics and feel of the song are decidedly upbeat, despite a maudlin beginning in which the singer says “he left with a 20 and the clothes on his back;” eventually, the singer finds renewed faith in humanity as he learns “A lot of good people live in this world/They help the lost people find their way.”
        The rest of the songs are pretty much in this same vein. This is not “message” music: Fathers and Sons doesn’t want to change the world or tell you who to vote for — they simply want you to rock, and when appropriate, to slow down and just roll with the good time tunes and “hurts so good” ballads that fill the disc.
        And unlike most “basement tapes,” the sound of the CD is just as warm as the lyrics; the guitars and drums and bass lines have a retro, analog feel, as if everything was played through an old Neve tube console — surprising since Richard said the project was created using PC-based software and solid state modeling amps. Despite the use of thoroughly modern production techniques, every song drips with that tube warmth and feel of an early-1970s circa LP; it’s so authentically old school that I found myself longing for a lava lamp, beanbag chair and some shag carpet. If you still have a mullet, you’re golden.
        Both the Allmans share vocals on the CD, while the elder Diffie contributes vocals, as well as keeping the beat with his metronome-like drum work. David Diffie’s bass is melodious, yet not too upfront in the mix.
        “We’d like to maybe play some gigs, maybe get down to Fayetteville for a show or two if some club will have us,” said Richard, “but we didn’t go into this thing looking for fame and fortune — it is just something that combines the love of music shared by a couple of dads and their sons.”
        I can, without hesitation, say that in this case the old bromide “like father like son” has never sounded better.
        If you would like to learn more about the band or buy the CD, check out the following Web sites: www.myspace.com/temporarilybreathing or www.kunaki.com/sales.asp?PID=PX0050L95R.

  • Details
        Dear EarthTalk: Should we expect to see “plug-in” hybrid cars anytime soon? I’ve been hearing they are on the horizon but I wonder if that means in one year or 10.       
    -— Bill A., Stratford, Conn.

        Gasoline-electric hybrids now, like Toyota’s popular Prius, don’t need to plug in — you just fill their tanks with gasoline and the battery keeps charged by the internal combustion engine and by energy generated from the wheels when braking (a feature known as “regenerative braking”). The battery then powers the electric motor when it is called into service during idling, backing-up, crawling in gridlock, maintaining speed while cruising, and for extra uphill power when needed. As such, the electric motor is essentially a back-up engine while the hybrid relies mainly on the gasoline engine.
        Plug-in hybrids take the concept further by plugging into a regular electric outlet to enable the vehicle to operate solely on its electric motor for ranges of 40-50 miles or more on a single charge. This has profound implications for commuters who need only drive short distances to and from work every day and who may be able to do so solely on electric power. The gasoline engine then becomes the supplemental one for when the car needs to travel farther than the electric engine can take it.{mosimage}
        According to researchers at the University of California Davis, the electricity cost for powering a plug-in hybrid is only about one-quarter of the cost of powering a like-sized gasoline vehicle. Other benefits include far fewer fill-ups at gas stations and the convenience of recharging at home.
        Toyota, currently the world’s largest producer of hybrid vehicles by far thanks to the success of its Prius, announced that it expects to have a commercially viable plug-in hybrid available to consumers as early as 2010 and is now testing prototype versions of plug-in hybrids at two California universities.
        Felix Kramer of the California Cars Initiative (CCI), a non-profit dedicated to promoting plug-ins, called Toyota’s announcement “stunning and very welcome,” and says that these vehicles will be the cleanest practical cars on the road in a world where gas stations dot just about every intersection. The promise of such cars, says CCI on its Web site, is that drivers will have a “cleaner, cheaper, quieter car for local travel, and the gas tank is always there should you need to drive longer distances.”
        U.S. automakers are also jumping onto the plug-in bandwagon. General Motors says that it will have mass-market plug-in hybrids — modifications of its Saturn Vue and Chevrolet Volt — on the road by 2010. Ford has also developed a small fleet of plug-ins, but is not yet ready to offer them to the public. Fisker, a U.S. start-up focusing on the creation of high performance, energy efficient vehicles, plans to sell an $80,000 plug-in hybrid sports car by late 2009. Chrysler’s Sprinter van was the first plug-in from a major U.S. manufacturer, but it is only presently available to a limited number of institutions as a fleet vehicle.
        Plug-ins have also caught on elsewhere. Chinese carmaker BYD plans to sell a plug-in hybrid sedan in the U.S. within five years. And Volkswagen hopes to have a plug-in hybrid Golf ready to roll by 2010.
        CONTACTS: California Cars Initiative, www.calcars.org; BYD, www.byd.com; General Motors, http://www.gm.com/experience/fuel_economy/news/2008/hybrids/plug_in_vue_011008.jsp; Fisker, http://jalopnik.com/344419/detroit-auto-show-fisker-karma-luxury-hybrid-only-80000.
        GOT AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/, or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php.

  • Details
        A look at the Top 40 songs in our culture today will surely prove that “love” is a predominant theme in our world. Love has been the theme of the greatest movies, the greatest songs and the greatest books. And love is the predominant theme in the Bible.
        The apostle John wrote about love in his tiny book called 1 John. And in that short, five chapter book, John tells us that, “we should love one another” (1 John 3:11, NASB). John then gives three principles of love.
        First of all, when we love one another, we show to the world that we are Christians. John says “we know that we have passed out of death into life.” Death, here, refers to the eternal separation from God; while, life refers to eternity with God. He then says, “we know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren.” (verse 14.) So our love for others is a sign of our faith. John records Jesus as saying, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13.) And that is exactly what Jesus did for us.
        {mosimage}John gives a second principle, love is an action. There is a significant difference in me telling my wife “I love you” and actually showing her I love her. Love should be more than words that come from our mouths. Love is an action. John writes, “let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth” (verse 18). Someone once said, “Love is a verb!” Love is to be expressed in the actions of our day-to-day routine. Find someone who needs to be loved on today. Do you have a neighbor who is lonely and needs a friend? Maybe a military family that is dealing with the loss of a friend in service? Seek out a family that is struggling financially, and give them a substantial financial gift to help them along. And tell your spouse and kids that you love them … not in your words, but with your deeds.
        Finally, John gives a third principle: Love frees our hearts from condemnation. Have you ever avoided someone only to second guess your actions later? Perhaps it was the poor man on the street corner or a hungry child at the store. Later, you get home to the comfort of your house and you begin to think, “Maybe he really did need a dollar.” When we love unselfishly, then our heart will not condemn us with those guilty feelings. So let your heart be free by living the truth of loving one another. Remember, God loved you even when you were dirty with sin, unloving, ungrateful, and unwilling to change. “For God so loved the world, that He sent His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, emphasis added.)

  • Details
        North Carolina’s General Assembly went home last week without coming up with a way to deal with the projected shortfall in the state’s employee health care program.
        When the legislators come back next year they might want to take a look at some radical ideas for saving health care dollars proposed by UNC medical school professor Nortin Hadler in his new book, Worried Sick:     A Prescription for Health in an Overtreated America.
    Hadler would restrict funding for medical procedures that have not been scientifically proven to provide positive benefits.{mosimage}
        What kinds of procedures is he talking about? Surely not the ones that many think have given us better health and extended our lives like:
        •Coronary artery bypass grafts, angioplasties or stents to save lives or improve symptoms;
        •Arthroscopy for knee pain;
        •Any surgery for backache;
        •Statin therapy to reduce cholesterol and thereby save lives;
        •Newer antidepressants for situational depression;
        •Drugs for decreased bone density;
        •PSA screening and radical prostatectomy to save lives;
        •Screening mammography to save lives;
        •Many a cancer treatment to save lives;
        Hold on to your hats. These are exactly the kinds of treatments that Dr. Hadler would limit. According to Hadler, when these procedures have been subjected to rigorous scientific measurements of their impact on large groups of patients, their demonstrated favorable results are minimal or negligible.
        Hadler’s conclusions run counter to the individual experiences of many of us. We know people who have regained strength and good health after heart, back or knee surgery. We have heard testimony from people with family histories of heart disease testify to their improved cholesterol counts thanks to the statin drugs their doctors prescribed. We have seen friends suffering from depression improve after taking one of the new drugs. In response, Hadler tells us to look at the numbers — the ones that show the results, over time, of these treatments as they are compared with the results where these treatments were not given.
        In Worried Sick, Hadler sets out his version of “the numbers.” Chapter by chapter he lays out the results of “double blind” surveys that have evaluated these and other popular treatments. According to Hadler, the purported benefits of these treatments, often costly and sometimes risky, do not stand up to the scrutiny of these tests.
        In many, if not most, cases a doctor’s recommendation or performance of these treatments is what Hadler calls Type II medical malpractice. There are two kinds of medical malpractice, he explains. Type I is “doctors doing the necessary unacceptably poorly.” Type II is “doctors doing the unnecessary, albeit very well.”  
        It would probably take a well-trained statistician to evaluate properly Dr. Hadler’s summaries of the results of the multiple surveys he uses to show that these treatments are “unnecessary.”
    But assume for a moment that he is correct. If these treatments (and other similar ones) are really unnecessary, Americans are wasting a lot of money to pay for them. So is the North Carolina state health plan.
        Hadler presents a detailed proposal for health care reform. Its key feature would severely limit reimbursements for any treatment that does have significant positive benefits as measured by rigorous scientific evaluation.
        Worried Sick is a long book. Sometimes there is “TMI” (too much information) to make for easy reading and understanding of Hadler’s important main points. But anyone who wants help in evaluating any one of the treatments will welcome the details that Hadler provides.
        More important perhaps, Hadler’s challenge to the value of these treatments demands a response from the physicians, pharmaceutical companies, and others who sell these treatments’ benefits and urge us to “take advantage” of them.
        I would like to hear their rebuttal — point by point.
        And, maybe our legislators would also like to hear what they say.

  • Details
        {mosimage}The Fayetteville Public Works Commission continued its commitment to a sustainable community as it broke ground on its LEED-registered Customer Service Center Wednesday morning adjacent to the PWC Operations Complex on Old Wilmington Road.
        The 10,000 sq ft. building will be one of the first buildings in Cumberland County to be built to LEED standards and is expected to be open in mid to late 2009. LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED is designed to promote design and construction practices that reduce the negative environmental impacts of buildings and improving occupant health and well-being. The PWC Board and General Manager were joined by members of the Fayetteville City Council during the ceremonial groundbreaking as well as the designing Architect- Walter Vick, AIA of the LSV Partnership of Fayetteville and the General Contractor- Construction Management & Development Services, LLC of Raleigh. System WorCx is the project’s commissioning and LEED Consultant.
        The center will serve over 25,000 customers that visit PWC each month and is one of eight projects currently LEED registered within Cumberland County.
        When completed, could be the first local project to be LEED certified. The project meets over 25 LEED standards including:
        •Providing parking for low emitting/fuel efficient vehicles & carpool/vanpool vehicles.
        • Storm water runoff controlled through bioretention basin.
        • Located on public bus routes.
        • Use of low-flow water fixtures and waterless urinals.
        • Building features, efficient geo-thermal heat pump, electrical systems and automation systems are designed to reduce energy consumption.
        • Geothermal heat pump eliminate the use of refrigerants.
        • Solar reflectant roof surface.
        • Motorized louvers on building’s west side will minimize energy cost by adjusting to the sunlight exposure.
        • Revolving door will minimize air loss and help maintain optimal operating temperatures.
        • Use of durable, long-lasting materials minimize maintenance costs and use of cleaning chemicals.
        • Use of building materials include at least 20% recycled material.
        • Incorporates day lighting and direct/indirect lighting fixtures with lighting controls.
        • Lighting installations minimizes light pollution from building.

  • Details
        For 25 years, the Temple Theatre has been bringing professional theatre to the residents of Lee County and the surrounding area. The historic theatre, located in downtown Sanford, is celebrating its 25th season this year and plans to do it in style, bringing eight mainstage productions to the stage in its 2008-2009 season.
        “We are really excited about the upcoming season,” said Karen Brewer, marketing director of Temple Theatre. “We are bringing in a lot of shows that will hopefully bring in lots of people.”{mosimage}
        The box office season includes A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline from Aug. 28- Sept. 28; Christmas Spectacular from Nov. 28-Dec. 21; Hamlet from Jan. 8 –Jan. 25; Once On This Island from Feb. 5-22; Moonlight and Magnolias from March 12- 29, Little Women: The Musical from April 16-May 3; and Dames at Sea from May 28-June 21. 
        The Blackbox Theatre, a new smaller theatre within Temple, is a more intimate setting that seats 63 people. It features smaller productions such as Prooffrom Oct. 1-12; Stones In His Pocketbook from Nov. 12-23; Way to Heaven from Feb. 25-March 8; and Brecht on Brecht from May 6-17. Way to Heaven will be presented in English and Spanish versions. 
        “We are going to try to draw in the Spanish-speaking population,” said Brewer.
        Temple is a cultural center for Lee County and the surrounding region offering professional and children’s theatre to the area. The theatre, designed for vaudeville, seats 339 people, has an old fashioned orchestra pit, an advanced communication network and a computer-controlled lighting and sound system. 
    Some of the groups that have graced the Temple’s stage include the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, the Red Clay Ramblers, the Kingston Trio, Glenn Miller and Count Basie. 
        The Temple Theatre School provides people of all ages the opportunity to take classes ranging from acting technique, improvisation, audition technique, musical theatre, voice and diction, stage combat and other specialty classes. 
        “We also have student matinees for some of these shows,” said Brewer. “We bring students in from the area elementary, middle and high schools.” 
        Brewer added that the actors come out after the show to talk to the students and allow them to ask questions. 
        Another project the theatre is currently focusing on is a fundraiser. 
        “We are trying to raise money so we can expand our restrooms,” said Brewer. “We are really growing and we want our patrons to be comfortable.”                                                                                                           The theatre is located in the downtown area of Sanford,. Show times are Thursdays at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. 
        For more information call (919) 774-4155. 

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