Definitely Miami Vice

Definitely Miami is by far my favorite Miami Vice TV episode. It's noteworthy for many reasons starting with the introduction, a long and slow camera shot set to Carlos Santana's beautiful Europa as played by Gato Barbieri  to the final scenes set to the hypnotic one-hit-wonder, Godley and Creme's Cry (considered one of the defining scenes of Miami Vice as a show). It's also notable for Casting Ted Nugent as serial killer Charlie Basset, from the time when Ted Nugent was still making music like Dog Eat Dog. Kick back, feel the heat (sorry about the commercials, kind of like seeing it on TV--buy the DVD).

Quotes:

Crockett: It's hot enough to fry an egg on my face.
Tubbs: Hope I never get that hungry.

Calle: Do you own this place.
Crockett: No, some people I work for own it and they let me use it whenever I want.
Calle: I could make you that deal.

Crockett: This is America. Cut yourself free. Find a new place. Get a job.
Calle: (Laughing) Men are my job... Not really men. One man. One man who will give me what I need. I'll do anything for him. Whatever he wants. Whatever he needs. Whatever he needs to want. Anything! Anything!
Crockett: You'd build your life around a man?
Calle: Yes!
Crockett: Does it matter which one?
Calle: But of course it matters, Sonny. It matters a lot.
Crockett: Does it matter enough to look before you leap? You don't know me. You don't know anything about me. You don't know what you're dealing with.
Calle: But of course I know you. I knew you from the very first minute I saw you. You're restless. You're hungry. You're lonely. You have dreams.

(They kiss).

Calle: Hold me tight. This may never happen again.

(Break for commercial).

From the standpoint of a single man (I was single when I first saw this episode), I can't say I've ever seen a more seductive scene on TV. Of course no woman could ever get away with this kind of dialog, but the fantasy factor is really high here and my mind is starting to get a little confused and not thinking very clearly. Maybe it's just the Miami heat. Oh yes, Calle is played by Arielle Dombasle.

I'll have what she's having -- Estelle Reiner.

The Delicatessen scene from When Harry Met Sally, playing now at our house. Best quotes:

Sally Albright: "You are a human affront to all women and I am a woman."

Sally Albright: "Oh. Right. That's right. I forgot. You're a man."

Older Woman Customer (Estelle Reiner): "I'll have what she's having" one of the most memorable funny lines in movie history according to the New York Times. The line was written by Billy Crystal. More great quotes from the movie here.

Written by Nora Ephron (1941-2012), directed by Rob Reiner, music by Marc Shaiman and Harry Connick, Jr. and with a great cast.

CO2 Emissions and Ocean Acidification

Anthropogenic CO2 emissions have two negative effects on the World System: (1) CO2 pumped into the atmosphere increases the greenhouse effect that drives global warming and (2) CO2 absorbed by the oceans (between 30-40% of emissions) creates ocean acidification (lower pH). 

Ocean pH is lowered through the creation of carbonic acid. As ocean pH is lowered, corals die and calcifying organisms who need carbonate to form their shells (carbonate is depleted by carbonic acid formation) start dissolving and dying. When corals and calcifying organisms start dying, food chains are disrupted. Since humanity is at the top of the food chain, humanity starts to suffer.

There are only two hopes here: (1) reduce CO2 emissions (substantially) and (2) hope that corals and calcifying organisms can evolve to flourish in low pH waters (evolution is slow). Since people who do not accept climate change science typically also do not accept evolution, there is really no hope for them except to deny that any of this is happening. 

Nova recently aired a segment titled Lethal Seas (trailer above) that discussed the topic in depth. The entire show can been seen here.

Plunk Your Magic Twanger Froggy

One of my favorite TV shows growing up was The Buster Brown Show with Andy Divine, Froggy the Gremlin and Midnight the Cat ("What do you say to the kids, Midnight? 'Nice'"). Evidently, after Andy Devine took over the show it was called Andy's Gang, but I guess I wasn't paying close attention because we still called it the Buster Brown Show.

Another great character actor on the show was Billy Gilbert.  Froggy was a prankster and typically infuriated Andy Devine and Billy Gilbert. The clip above is a good example. It's probably what I liked most about the show as a child. My remembrance was that there were Spaghetti Westerns played as segments but I must be remembering Andy Devine's earlier appearances on The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok.

Stooges: Press, Press, Pull

I was having a discussion today and the topic of generational humor came up. One of the questions we discussed was whether the clip above (or the Three Stooges in general) would still be consider humorous. I don't know the answer to that, but if anyone has any opinions, pleased leave a comment.

Religious Freedom and the Public Accommodation

The News Hour had an interesting segment last night on the controversy over Religious Freedom Laws being played out in Arkansas and Indiana. The most interesting interchange was between Rev. Tim Overton of the Halteman Village Baptist Church and Micheline Maynard of Arizona State University.

Rev. Tim Overton: Well, I do believe government needs a good reason to interfere with the private practice of religion among our citizens in this country...Our biggest concern with the changes is that Christian-owned businesses or religious-owned business are not going to be able to carry their faith as they would like into the business realm.

Micheline Maynard: Well, you know, Gwen, one of the things about business in the United States is that, when you open your doors and you sell something to the public, I think the principles in this country have been that you welcome all comers.

(Read the full transcript here, emphasis added above.) What the Religious Right Wing wants limited are the concepts of a public accommodation and discrimination under US law. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the ADA require that public accommodations must be handicap-accessible and must not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin. Some States extend the Federal law to cover discrimination based upon, race, gender, ethnicity, religion, age, breastfeeding in public and sexual orientation and/or gender identity (read more about the public accommodation here and discrimination here)**. Discrimination is particularly interesting because it involves treating people differently based on their membership in a class. The "different treatment" can either be positive or negative (as Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has has argued in trying to overturn Affirmative Action).

So, let's be clear. The US government should not interfere with either the private practice of religion or the private practice of bigotry. You can discriminate or make all the bigoted statements you want in private. You can even say these things in public settings such as a public church (exempt under public accommodation laws). It's when you move into the public sector that there are more restrictions (e.g., hate speech).

I have repeatedly run into this issue when I have worked in government from people on both sides of the political spectrum. I have always considered public and private acts to be different but a lot of very vocal people and politicians do not. Some on the Right Wing want to regulate private acts in the bedroom or in the physicians office. Some on the Left Wing, advocating for a privacy right, do not want public acts (such as murder or criminal convictions) to be part of the pubic record.  An event that sticks in my mind was to watch politicians on both sides of the spectrum trying to invent reasons to discriminate against the Coptic Christian Church because their community was predominantly of a different religion, both Christian.

Maybe most people do not have a problem rationalizing these concepts when they are in private. It's only when they get into the public sector that the political struggle begins. We're seeing one, maybe inevitable, public fight playing out right now in Arkansas and Indiana. On the other hand, I can't think of any reasons why a right to discriminate should be extend to the public sector under any circumstances. Can you?

**Why the State freedoms listed in this sentence should not be extended to the Federal level is an interesting questions with some obvious answers you can think about. The fact is, they have not been.