Life & Times - Transcript

About Us \| Contact Us

Life & Times Transcript

12/08/05

Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times --

Is there room for poppies, windmills and race cars? One magnificent stretch of land and three conflicting ideas.

Tom Malloy>> We're establishing a threshold for noise, so many decibels.

Jan Johnson>> The poppy reserve is a beautiful area and we put up wind farms in a lot of beautiful places.

Mike Powell>> It just glows. It's a beautiful flower that way.

Val Zavala>> And then, only eighteen days until Christmas and so many movies to see. Our FilmWeek critics are making a list and checking it twice.

These stories and more next on tonight's Life and Times.

Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.

Val Zavala>> Once a year, it turns into a field of gold. It's the famous poppy preserve near Lancaster. But now some people have a different idea. They think it will be a great spot for a race track and a wind farm and, as Sam Louie tells us, that has the poppy people concerned.

Mike Powell>> It's like a fire. The orange is so intense. The color is so saturated, so intense, it just glows. It's a beautiful flower that way.

Sam Louie>> During a good spring, thousands of poppies in full bloom grace the landscape of Lancaster about seventy miles north of Los Angeles.

Mike Powell>> Every year, we get visitors from almost essentially every state of the union and typically we get visitors from almost forty foreign countries every year come to the poppies, so the reputation of the poppy reserve is known worldwide.

Sam Louie>> Mike Powell is Chairman of the Friends of the Poppy Reserve, a support group for the state landmark. But these days, they're fighting a battle to preserve it.

Mike Powell>> "It's pretty cool. Lots of poppies in here."

Sam Louie>> In November, they are only small sprouts, so Powell marks them with toothpicks as a way to track their growth. But Powell is also keeping an eye on two separate projects that he feels could jeopardize the beauty of the thirty-year old poppy reserve. One is a wind farm. The other is a race track.

[Film Clip]

Sam Louie>> The proposed race track could bring about two hundred vintage cars like these racing around a three and a half mile track. If approved, it would be built several miles north of the reserve. Powell, though, believes the track would drive people away from the reserve.

Mike Powell>> We also asked them how it would impact their future visitation and, on the race track, over eighty percent of the people said that they would either come less frequent or would never come again if that race track was built in.

Tom Malloy>> "The one next to us right here, the Blue #40, is the car that Mario Andretti finished second in the 1981 Indianapolis 500."

Sam Louie>> The man behind the race track idea is Tom Malloy, a vintage race car collector and enthusiast. He describes what the track would be like.

Tom Malloy>> Just club racing during the weekends and it will be testing during the week, Porsche owner club type events, the Ferrari club type events, certain large manufacturers of cars may want to come out and test their cars or put on their new line of cars and show them, and that's what this is all about. "This car is a Curtis Craft 500C, 1954 vintage, and it raced and was entered in Indianapolis all the way through the 1960's."

Sam Louie>> Malloy owns more than thirty vintage cars. He started racing when he was eleven.

Tom Malloy>> "But this is a car that I built for the soap box derby that I took up to the Arroyo Seco".

Sam Louie>> But now at the age of sixty-six, Malloy says it's much harder to find a place to race classic cars.

Tom Malloy>> It's becoming more difficult to find the dates to do this vintage racing, but also it's very difficult to find a place that's going to have the accommodations, the creature comforts, that we plan on building at Fairmont Butte.

Sam Louie>> The race track is still in its early stages. An environmental impact report is in the works. He hopes to submit it to county officials by the end of the year. If the process goes as planned, Malloy thinks groundbreaking could happen in late 2006. While he understands noise is an issue, he also believes he can be a good neighbor.

Tom Malloy>> We're establishing a threshold for noise, so many decibels, that is absolutely determined while I'm talking to you right now that there will be a maximum set for this race track so we don't go over.

Sam Louie>> While the race track plan is underway, another idea is in the wind. It's a wind farm. Wind farms similar to this one would convert wind to electricity for Los Angeles. Powell took us to the highest point at the poppy reserve and described how the view would be affected by this.

Mike Powell>> From the Tehachapi viewpoint, there are mountains that way. All the way across here, this would all be blocked by turbines.

Sam Louie>> However, wind farm developers say that this area is an excellent place for capturing and generating energy.

Jan Johnson>> The Tehachapi area is probably the last best untapped resource for renewable energy in California. There are some estimates that the Tehachapi area could supply forty-five hundred megawatts. That's enough for maybe 1.2 million homes.

Sam Louie>> Jan Johnson is with PPM Energy, a wind farm developer based in Portland, Oregon. PPM has not submitted any paperwork, but the plan is to place more than one hundred of these large turbines just south of the poppy reserve. The wind farm would then link to a transmission line which Southern California Edison plans to complete by 2008.

Alis Clausen>> We have to build additional transmission lines into the areas that renewable technologies are the most prevalent. The wind doesn't blow everywhere, so we have to build transmission to the areas where wind energy is a viable technology.

Sam Louie>> State law will require public utilities to get twenty percent of their energy from renewable sources by the year 2017. With this in mind, some energy companies believe wind power is the way to go.

Jan Johnson>> Wind power has become cost-competitive with any form of new generation. This is a very big deal right now with facing increasing energy costs throughout the country and, so recently here in California, the recent rolling blackouts.

Sam Louie>> Still, opponents believe that large windmills and poppy fields don't mix.

Mike Powell>> Here at the highest point on the vista, you�d be looking up at the tips of these three blades. These blades are as big in diameter -- swept area, these blades are about the wingspan of a 747.

Jan Johnson>> The poppy reserve is a beautiful area and we put up wind farms in a lot of beautiful places in Iowa, in Colorado, in Oregon and Washington and other parts of California. And we work very hard with the communities to make sure that they are appropriate use.

Sam Louie>> And there's something else: the impact on wildlife.

Mike Powell>> This valley is a wintering site for a number of different birds. The turbines are known to have a problem with bird kills.

Jan Johnson>> Wind turbines have improved in their technology. They are not the old lattice kind anymore. They're the tubular towers, so that the bird kills are much less. There's much less impact on bird populations because they can't perch.

Sam Louie>> As for the impact on tourism, backers of both projects believe they might actually help draw more people to the area.

Tom Malloy>> There are people that don't even know that it exists and might find out by the fact that there's a sign out there. They come to the races and might say, "Hey, I didn't even know this thing was this close" and might go over to it.

Jan Johnson>> We have a wind farm in Iowa right beside one of the only three blue water lakes in all of America. It's one of those beautiful glacier-carved lakes and actually that community has experienced more tourism because of the wind project.

Sam Louie>> Both proposals must be approved by Los Angeles County. In the meantime, the Friends of the Poppy Reserve are gearing up for a fight. And the question will be, will this be the view that visitors continue to enjoy or will the winds of change bring a different look to the scenery? I'm Sam Louie for Life and Times.

Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org and click on "Life and Times".

Val Zavala>> It was just another workday for a middle school teacher in Long Beach. He had no idea that, by the end of the day, he would be $25,000 richer. How did that happen? Take a look.

It's a sunny afternoon at Cecil B. DeMille Middle School in Long Beach. The school band has taken the stage. Students have been told that it's a special school assembly to listen to state education officials, but the real reason for this gathering is a secret that only a handful of people in the room know. This teacher has no idea that he's about to be awarded $25,000. The prize comes from the Milken Family Foundation. Among their spokesmen is comedian, actor and screenwriter, Robert Townsend, who tells the students how one teacher made a difference in his life.

Robert Townsend>> "When I was a little kid, there was a teacher. His name was James Reed. I lived in the worst neighborhood on the west side of Chicago and he would pick me up and take me to speech festival. One day, we had to read in front of everybody and the reading went like this. "Oedipus, Oedipus." And I read like this: "Oedipus, I pray not thy rage upon thy soul. Oedipus!" And the whole class went woo."

Lowell Milken>> "Good afternoon."

Val Zavala>> Then Lowell Milken took the mike. He is co-founder of the Foundation that rewards one hundred outstanding teachers every year. He starts to drop hints about the real reason behind the gathering.

Lowell Milken>> "Yes, I know a secret and I've known it for about three weeks now. But I was told that I couldn't tell anyone what that was until I came to your school today. Now does anybody in this room know what the words "financial prize" means? Could you come up here for a moment? Yeah, come on up. Now what is your name?"

Karen>> "Karen".

Lowell Milken>> "Karen, what grade?"

Karen>> "Sixth".

Lowell Milken>> "Sixth grade. Do you know what the words "financial prize" means?"

Karen>> "Money?"

Val Zavala>> Then he asked for some student volunteers.

Lowell Milken>> "I want you to know that the person who receives this award receives a financial prize of this. That's right. And the person can use the money for any purpose whatsoever."

Val Zavala>> Finally the surprise announcement.

Lowell Milken>> "May I have the envelope, please? It gives me great pleasure to present the Milken Educator Award to an outstanding teacher and that teacher is James Orihuela. James, come on down here."

Val Zavala>> James was so stunned that it was hard to get him to the stage. James is from Denver and has been here since 1996. He teaches Spanish literature and he's worked intensely to raise the skills of Spanish-speaking students through a successful dual emersion program. His students have the fewest discipline problems in school and have received the most academic awards.

Lowell Milken>> "Congratulations."

Val Zavala>> And on top of all that, James organizes a yearly diversity talent show.

Lowell Milken>> We're looking for people who are often young in the early part of their career or mid-career who not only have already distinguished themselves, but have the potential to do so much more.

Val Zavala>> It took a few minutes for all of this to sink in.

James Orihuela>> "The hardest thing is just trying to hold it together here. I mean, when they said it over there, I just about lost it over there. I don't know where this ride's going to take me, but I guess it's the first step and I'm sure I'm going to enjoy it and I've sure enjoyed what I do and I really do love my job and my kids. I'm lucky. I'm lucky to do what I do. I'm lucky to have the kids that I work with. I hope it continues to be that way. Thank you for everything."

Val Zavala>> Since the Milken National Educator Awards began back in 1987, more than fifty-four million dollars has been given out to more than two thousand teachers and each one has been surprised.

Lowell Milken>> I have never been part of an announcement where the secret leaked out, but we've had a few instances where certain of the teachers, I think, may have known.

[Film Clip]

James Orihuela>> "I'm even now still trying to take it in. My hands are all sweaty and my knees are shaking."

Val Zavala>> "I know it's a little bit too early to ask, but do have any idea what you're going to do with $25,000?"

James Orihuela>> "No. All I'm thinking is when I go home and tell my wife today."

Val Zavala>> Research has shown that the single biggest factor at our schools for student achievement is having a talented teacher.

[Film Clip]

Lowell Milken>> "Let me ask you a question. Have you told your wife yet?"

James Orihuela>> "No."

Lowell Milken>> "Do you have your cell phone?"

James Orihuela>> "Yes, I do."

Lowell Milken>> "Call her right now."

Val Zavala>> Finally, as the assembly settles down, it was time for James to make that phone call to his wife.

James Orihuela>> "That's right. Let's see if she answers."

Lowell Milken>> "Just tell her you won $25,000."

James Orihuela>> "You're not going to believe this (laughter). Yes, I did, in a sense. I don't even know where to begin. From the Milken Foundation, they came, they found me. The assembly that we're having today that I was telling you about? The superintendent and everybody else? It was because they recognized me. They recognized me from the Foundation and they gave us a $25,000 grant to go with it. No, I'm not kidding (laughter)."

Val Zavala>> Winners of the Milken Award get more than a big check. They get to go to Washington, D.C. for a professional development conference. Previous winners were on hand to give James an idea of what was to come.

>> "When I tell you that your life is going to change, your life is going to change. In about five or six months when you go to D.C., you're going to be meeting with your senators, with your Congress people. You're going to have influence that you didn't even realize you had because you cared here. They came and found you and you need to like soak that in."

Val Zavala>> California is facing a severe teacher shortage that will only get worse in the next decade. So although the spotlight was on James, the award was designed to impress students as well.

Lowell Milken>> "I want you to think about becoming a teacher yourself. When you go through school and you think about the different careers that you could have, think of the positive impact that you could make in this community, in your state and in fact our nation by becoming a teacher. Thank you very much."

Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address:

Life and Times
4401 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, California 90027

You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org.

Larry Mantle>> Welcome to FilmWeek on Life and Times. I'm Larry Mantle of 89.3 KPCC. Our first film this week is set in the wide open spaces of Wyoming. It's adapted from an Annie Proulx short story. "Brokeback Mountain" is directed by Ang Lee. It stars Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal.

[Film Clip]

Larry Mantle>> I'm joined this week by critics Andy Klein of City Beat and Valley Beat, and Peter Rainer of The Christian Science Monitor. Andy, please start us off with "Brokeback Mountain".

Andy Klein>> Yeah, "Brokeback Mountain" is a western like you haven't quite seen before. Westerns are filled with male bonding, but not quite as the type of the male bonding here. Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger play these two young ranch hands who, on an isolated mountain one summer, fall in love with each other sexually, romantically, you know, the whole nine yards. Of course, this is the early 1960's in Wyoming and there's no way these guys can be out of the closet about it.

The film actually covers about twenty years as they carry on this on and off affair behind the backs of their wives, just terribly unhappy in the long run. Ang Lee directed this and it's another one of his looks at social morays which he's done very well in the past with "Sense & Sensibility" and his Taiwanese films. It's really very, very moving.

Larry Mantle>> Peter, what did you think?

Peter Rainer>> Yeah, it's a terrific movie. It's very difficult now to make a love story that's different. The obstacles in the way of having a successful love story in the movies just aren't there anymore. There are very few obstacles left that people really believe in. So this movie, I think, is one of the few that really deals with a bona fide obstacle that works in terms of the romance.

Heath Ledger gives a great performance, I think, as an actor here and he works extremely well with Jake Gyllenhaal, who's also terrific. It's a wonderful screenplay that really expertly expands the Annie Proulx short story. All of the characters in this movie, the wives of the men, are, you know, equally well treated by Ang Lee. It's a terrific film overall.

Larry Mantle>> Our second film has taken a very long time to get to the screen. About eight years ago, "The Memoirs of a Geisha" became a best-seller. Now the book has been adapted to a film that's directed by Rob Marshall. It stars Ziyi Zhang, Gong Li and Michelle Yeoh.

[Film Clip]

Larry Mantle>> Peter, what was your take on "Memoirs of a Geisha"?

Peter Rainer>> Well, given the number of attractive people in this movie, it's kind of depressing that it's as bland as it is. Ziyi Zhang, Gong Li, Michelle Yeoh head the cast and they look beautiful. They move beautifully. The kimonos are all, you know, perfectly appointed. It's beautifully shot, but it's lifeless. It's a kind of faux romance that deals with the geisha world in the early part of the twentieth century and moves into geisha town in a way that's supposed to be kind of fantastical.

It's all being narrated by one of the characters in retrospect. But it doesn't have a magical quality really to it because the director, Rob Marshall, is really more of a sensationalist who just sort of keeps wanting to show you tapestries and tableaus rather than really get into the characters themselves, so it's a very frustrating movie. It's beautiful to watch, but empty in experience.

Larry Mantle>> Andy, what did you think?

Andy Klein>> I pretty much agree with Pete. I mean, this really took almost an hour to get going. You have forty minutes of setup before Ziyi Zhang takes over the lead role where a little girl was playing the part, and really could have cut two-thirds of it. It's very, very slow. It doesn't pick up until Ziyi shows up and really doesn't pick up until Michele Yeoh shows up slightly after that. She actually brings a certain amount of energy to the screen even though it's a very restrained performance. But it's mostly (inaudible).

It looks pretty, but it's "Gone With the Wind" except not as interesting. It's "Gong With the Wind", I guess (laughter). Gong Li gives, you know, a flawless performance of a character you don't want to be just for one second. I mean, she's so unlikable and she's great at playing this character, but mainly it's just boringly tasteful.

Larry Mantle>> Our next film also took a very long time to get from book form to the screen. "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe", an adaptation of C.S. Lewis, makes its way to the screen this week. It's directed by Andrew Adamson who was one of the co-directors on "Shrek".

[Film Clip]

Larry Mantle>> Andy Klein, what did you think of "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe"?

Andy Klein>> Well, this is the Disney Company really trying to play catch-up with Warner Bros. who has the "Harry Potter" franchise. They've taken C.S. Lewis's 1950's series of seven novels which, you know, has a real following. This is the first of the book in terms of how they were published.

These little kids, you know, find in the back of a big wardrobe in an old house, they find themselves transported into a magical kingdom where there's a wicked witch wonderfully played by Tilda Swinton who tries to consolidate her power and the kids are part of the process. It's all these elements you've read in a million children's books. Some of it is pretty, but I've got to tell you, it ain't "Harry Potter". It's an all-right translation of this material, but I couldn't get way excited over it at all.

Larry Mantle>> And our fourth film this week is set in the world of theater. It stars Judi Dench and is titled "Mrs. Henderson Presents".

[Film Clip]

Larry Mantle>> "Mrs. Henderson Presents", Peter?

Peter Rainer>> This is a terrific movie. It's set in London mostly during the wartime blitz era. Judi Dench plays a recently widowed, imperious dowager who basically, to relieve herself of her boredom, becomes the proprietor of a west end theater that she hires this impresario played by Bob Hoskins to run and they immediately fight each other all over the place because they're so alike. They're very unyielding, but at the same time, there's a core of decency about them and a love of what they're doing.

Really, the movie is kind of a valentine to the life in a theater. The review that is put on in the theater quickly becomes a kind of nudie review which sets London on its ear and makes everybody all upset, but the servicemen love it and become the major patrons of this show. The sort of tableau vivante of all these nude ladies on stage is almost like a forties Fox musical, but it's a terrific movie. The two actors are just phenomenal and Stephen Frears did a great job of directing and Martin Sherman's script was really spot-on.

Larry Mantle>> Well, we thank you for joining us for another FilmWeek on Life and Times. I'm Larry Mantle of 89.3 KPCC joined by critics Peter Rainer of The Christian Science Monitor and Andy Klein of City Beat and Valley Beat. We invite you to join us again next week at this same time for another FilmWeek on Life and Times.

Val Zavala>> KPCC broadcasts a full hour of FilmWeek every Friday morning at eleven a.m. And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you tomorrow.

Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.

Sponsored in part by:


Home \| Features \| Arts \| Health/Science \| OC Edition \| L&T Blog \| Archives \| About Us \| Contact Us \| Privacy Policy \| Terms of Use © 2007 COMMUNITY TELEVISION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA