 |
HOME |  |
SCHEDULE | |
PROGRAMS | |
KIDS & FAMILY | |
LOCAL | |
SUPPORT KCET | |
ABOUT US | |
SHOP KCET |  |
| About Us | Contact Us | |
 |
|
 |
          |
|
|
 |
 |
||
|
|
Life & Times Transcript
8/2/07 Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- Thousands of teens hook up with friends in cyberspace, but could they be making dangerous connections? Sheila Inserra>> MySpace is a big resource for pedophiles looking for lonely kids and it's really better not to communicate with anybody who you don't know because you have no idea who they really are. Val Zavala>> And then, can an assassin with amnesia finally find peace of mind? Our critics fix their gaze on "The Bourne Ultimatum". It's all straight ahead 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>> It's happened again, this time to a nineteen year old teenage girl from Orange County. She's been missing since late June and she was last seen leaving with a registered sex offender, someone she met on the internet, this time Craigslist. So how can you convince kids and their parents that looking for friends on the web can be a dangerous proposition? Sam Louie has our story. Sam Louie>> Fourteen year old Marc Inserra is a typical teenager, a twenty-first century teenager, that is. He's got a cell phone. Marc Inserra>> "Hi, Eric. So like what are you doing today?" Sam Louie>> He listens to music with an iPod and he can't live without his computer. Marc Inserra>> I usually went on like every day for at least like an hour or two. Sam Louie>> Marc uses the internet to help him with his homework. But for fun, Marc loves tinkering with his MySpace account. Marc Inserra>> So this is like my home page. I get back with my friends. If I have new comments or anything, I'll have that. Well, it's just fun to be able to make your own like web page, like be able to put your own unique stuff on it and kind of show people what you're about. Sam Louie>> MySpace is a website where you can put information about yourself for everyone to see. It's like a cyberspace hangout for people to get to know each other. It was created just two years ago and now boasts up to forty-five million registered users. Users can also post pictures, music and, of course, send messages to each other. Marc Inserra>> I think that if, you know, you're looking for a friend or something, you find out that he's like in the same city as you and he's like your age or something and he like goes to your school or something and you didn't know about him, I think that would be a good way to find friends. Sam Louie>> Friends, yes, but connections can also be dangerous. Police say that MySpace and similar sites are fast becoming popular places for pedophiles. Officer Steve Wolf of the Irvine Police Department. Steve Wolf>> On MySpace, you have friends that are included in your profile. Sometimes you can have five hundred or a thousand different friends and it's very shocking for a parent, especially of a fifteen or sixteen year old, to look and see that they have a thousand friends and some of them are adults. "One in thirty-three received an aggressive sexual solicitation. Okay, let's go meet at Starbucks. I want to meet you right now. What's your home phone?" Sam Louie>> Wolf has given more than forty presentations to parents about online predators. He says that police are trying to keep up with their growing numbers. Steve Wolf>> The numbers are staggering out there. They have task forces where people actually just sit in computer rooms and try to arrange meets with predators and they just don't have enough people. They can't keep up with it. Sam Louie>> Before the internet, child molesters relied heavily on being around kids such as at a park to lure them. But that was risky and could raise a lot of suspicion. Now with chat rooms and social networking sites available, pedophiles have unlimited and unrestricted access to vulnerable children. One tragic example, back in January, fourteen year old Judy Cajuste of New Jersey was murdered after meeting a man on MySpace. Her body was found naked and strangled in a dumpster. Parents are realizing they must now watch their children more closely than ever before. Sandi Lester>> I think it's really a very scary situation and I get a little overwhelmed at times thinking about it and thinking about what could happen. Sam Louie>> Sandi Lester of Irvine has three children. Her oldest son, fourteen year old Sam, used to have a MySpace account. Sandi Lester>> He had the MySpace account. It was set up for him. He and his friends set it up. I told him he could keep it if he wanted it and he said he never used it. I said, "Well, if you don't use it, you should get rid of it." Sam Louie>> So he did, but that did not get rid of his mother's worries. Sam goes online to play video games with other gamers, strangers spanning the globe. Basically, he can talk to gamers anywhere around the world? Sandi Lester>> And he does. He's got somebody he talks to in Scotland a lot. There's another kid in New Jersey that is on a lot that's about eleven years old and he talks to him a lot. Sam Louie>> Sandi allows the talking, but makes sure the conversations stick to the game. She doesn't let her children give out any personal information, part of the many rules she has with them. Sandi Lester>> The computer is in an open space where I know what's going on. The children aren't allowed to have passwords on accounts that I don't know. I have to have access to their account at all times. I look at their buddy lists on their IM accounts almost daily. Sam Louie>> Other teens like Marc Inserra are given a bit more flexibility. His parents let him have a MySpace account. They also let him keep his computer in his bedroom as long as they have access to all of his information. Chris Inserra>> It's really the only monitoring I do. I mean, I can go in afterward and see where he's been and what he's done, but I haven't really had to do that because I pretty much trust that he's going to do what he says he's going to do. Whenever I go in, he freely lets me see the screen and I can go to his computer anytime I want and look at it anyway. Sam Louie>> His parents have also talked with him about the dangers of the internet. Sheila Inserra>> We talk to the kids very openly about pedophiles. MySpace is a big resource for pedophiles looking for lonely kids, but it's really better not to communicate with anybody who you don't know because you have no idea who they really are. Marc Inserra>> Like if somebody asks to be my friend or something like that and I don't know them, then I won't like let them in. If you don't, then they can't like comment yours, send you any messages or anything. Sam Louie>> So people have asked to be your friend who you did not know? Marc Inserra>> I think I had like two people once. Sam Louie>> But just the slim possibility of your son or daughter getting targeted should be enough reason for more parents to stay vigilant and on top of the changing technology. Steve Wolf>> "Internet facts: 2001, a hundred eighty million internet users in North America. Eight hundred eleven new users every day." Sam Louie>> Officer Wolf says there was a recent case in Irvine where a sixteen year old girl was preyed upon by a twenty-one year old man in a chat room. They ended up having sex, but the father of the victim did not file charges. Steve Wolf>> The father did not want to report this. The father did not want the shame for the family, did not want to victimize the daughter a second time by having her appear in court. Sandi Lester>> I think you don't have that luxury. I think it's just not something you can just turn a blind eye to. We all want to trust our kids, but we need to talk to them and have an open dialogue with them. But we also need to watch them. They are kids and someday may be tempted by certain things. Sam Louie>> Leslie Goetz is another stay-at-home mother in Irvine with two teenaged children. Leslie Goetz>> It's a concern because you don't know. You think your kid will never do something, but you don't know. It's a constant thing. Who are you talking to? Make sure you don't let anybody on that you don't know. Sam Louie>> Police say that it's encouraging to see parents so involved with their kids, but a startling number of parents are still in the dark ages when it comes to computers. Steve Wolf>> Some parents have no idea even how to get on the internet or what the internet is all about. So when it comes to MySpace, I realize that they have absolutely no idea what's involved. The facts are that forty-five million users are on MySpace right now and it grows by a hundred fifty thousand each day. So a hundred fifty thousand new users every day on MySpace. Sam Louie>> Predators know it's a numbers game and will continue to take advantage of it. Steve Wolf>> What you're going to find is more attempts, more contacts, of adults versus younger kids. That will happen just by nature of the internet and how it grows. Sam Louie>> MySpace is now owned by NewsCorp. It offers safety rules and is on the lookout for inappropriate material. But police remind parents that it's ultimately up to them to make sure their kids stay safe in both the real world and the cyber world. 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, plus transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org, scroll down the page and click on "Life and Times". Val Zavala>> Believe it or not, and you wouldn't know by looking at it, but this is the cleanest street in the entire city of Los Angeles. It's just a short street called Oros between the 5 Freeway and the Los Angeles River, but it's the cleanest street in the entire city and I talked to Larry Smith of North East Trees to find out why. As Larry explains, it has nothing to do with trash and everything to do with water. What have you done when it comes to rainwater and runoff? Larry Smith>> Well, we've managed to capture all the water coming off the driveways and along the street and clean it in such a way that there will be zero pollutants going into the Los Angeles River as a result of the project. Val Zavala>> We should mention that the Los Angeles River is only a few yards down there. Larry Smith>> Only a few yards down here at the end of the street where it says "End". Val Zavala>> It runs more than fifty miles from Canoga Park to Long Beach and it's bordered by thousands of streets like this, and what happens when it rains? Larry Smith>> The water used to just come down here and run right through, untreated, unfiltered, right into the river on the other side of this surface road. Val Zavala>> Gunk and everything, straight to the river? Larry Smith>> Exactly. Val Zavala>> Larry says that, for decades, the Los Angeles River has been used like a sewer. Little wonder that more than two hundred contaminants have been found in the Los Angeles River and that's where this impressive new system comes in. This is key, right? It starts right here? This drain? Larry Smith>> It starts right here. Water comes down the driveway and goes into this drain and then this drain has water routed into this. Underneath here is a storm water garden, we're calling that. We have pipes, sand and gravel, so water actually percolates back into the ground. Val Zavala>> And here's what you can't see beneath the sidewalk, a sophisticated system of pipes, drains, filters and gravel, all designed to clean the water as it migrates underground toward the river. Larry Smith>> The trace metals, bacteria are taken out of the water and also the water is taken up by the roots of plants and eventually evaporated or transpired out through the canopy and cleaned further by bacteria and trace metals also being taken out of the water. Val Zavala>> So these plants are being watered from underground? Larry Smith>> Somewhat, yes, during the rain when we actually have precipitation. Val Zavala>> And they're native plants? Larry Smith>> They're native plants. This happens to be a Coast Live Oak. Val Zavala>> Now it's also really pretty the way that you make the sidewalk nice and winding. Is that just for aesthetic purposes (laughter)? Larry Smith>> Well, it's for aesthetic, but also for some very practical reasons. We need it because this is a residential street with lots of curbside parking. We want to make sure that people actually come out of their cars and step onto the concrete rather than the planter. That was one reason. Val Zavala>> That's a great idea, so you don't step on plants. Larry Smith>> Instead of stepping on plants. Now the other reason, if you notice, the actual sidewalk is tilted towards the planter, so any water that lands on the concrete actually goes into the planter and is further cleaned and infiltrated. Val Zavala>> Very smart. So what happens to the water that still is in the gutter? There's some that still runs down the gutter, right? Larry Smith>> Yes. Water that doesn't actually get captured by a trench being across the driveway or that lands in the street comes down the gutters on both sides and goes into catch basins on both sides and actually gets routed into this park. Val Zavala>> So from the catch basin, it goes underground, more pipes, filters and whatnot, and it flows and waters this park here? This is new too? Larry Smith>> Exactly. We're actually walking right over where the pipes are underground. They come underneath this planted area in the middle and water is infiltrated through those pipes, the sand and gravel underneath and into the ground and cleaned in that fashion. The metals are taken out, the bacteria is taken out, grease and oil is taken out and so forth. Val Zavala>> And again, this is all native plants here too? Larry Smith>> All native plants in the middle here. This park was actually originally built in the year 2000. This was an empty lot at one time. Val Zavala>> And take a look at this pocket park only a year ago. And this is what it looks like today. Larry says that other spots along this Elysian Valley neighborhood could look like this too. Larry Smith>> We can do this in any park, any open space condition that you see at the end of a street. Val Zavala>> The residents in the neighborhood love it. Echo Allen>> It's saying I'm in a great neighborhood. I don't have to rush anywhere and I can just meander and look at the great foliage and trees and think about life (laughter). Dion Rutherford>> I seen him like when they started digging out the hole and I learned a lot about, you know, the flow of the water and how they're filtering it, which I think is a beautiful idea, beautiful. Because it doesn't have any of the oils or the bad stuff that should be going down into the river and I think that's beautiful to protect the river. Val Zavala>> So the water that nourishes those plants there stays there all the time? Nothing ever goes into the river? Larry Smith>> No, not exactly. What happens is, the water is migrating slowly through the soil. In nature, in a forest, that's what water does. It migrates slowly underground into the ground and eventually seeks its way through to the nearest stream, in this case, the river. Val Zavala>> The river right there? Larry Smith>> Eventually, it will make it there, but it takes -- Val Zavala>> -- slowly, slowly, slowly the clean water will eventually go into the river. Larry Smith>> Right, exactly. Val Zavala>> So it actually prevents a lot of water from going into the river at all because it's being used for your park. Larry Smith>> Exactly. It's being used for the park. It's being stored in the watershed, if you will, underground. That's the watershed. Eventually slowly, but in a cleaner fashion, it makes its way to the river and that is restoring nature's services. That's restoring how water actually works in a more natural setting. Val Zavala>> But some people would say, well, that means there's not going to be any water in the river because it will all be absorbed in these parks. Larry Smith>> There'll be what is considered more of a natural water regime in the river. The system in the city is designed to flush the water out off of our streets and property as fast as it can go and that's why this channel was constructed the way it was. Val Zavala>> It has to be so big because it has to have a lot of water quickly? Larry Smith>> Exactly. Val Zavala>> And you're saying no. Larry Smith>> No, it doesn't have to. If we do enough of these and water is stored locally, then we don't need as much capacity here. Not only that, the water is cleaner once it does make its way naturally to the river. Val Zavala>> So these parks along the way act like little sponges, in a sense? Larry Smith>> Exactly. Val Zavala>> Keeping the water from gushing. Larry Smith>> Exactly. It changes the whole dynamic of what's happening in the urban watershed. Val Zavala>> So all this is great, but you may be wondering how much did it cost? Well, this one project cost eight hundred thousand dollars, part city and part state money. But Larry says that a lot of that went for research and startup costs and future green streets, as he calls them, would cost a lot less. Still, with dirty water flowing from thousands of streets along the river, doing this on a large scale would cost in the tens of millions of dollars. But Larry Smith says that you've got to start somewhere. I see these gates along the river in a lot of places, but I haven't seen these. These are gorgeous. These are steelhead? Is that what that is? Larry Smith>> Yes, steelhead trout, exactly. Val Zavala>> Beautiful. Why did you choose that? Larry Smith>> Well, for many of us at North East Trees and other organizations, this symbolizes the ultimate vision for the Los Angeles River, that when steelhead can return to the river, we will truly have a clean river. Val Zavala>> Steelhead used to be in the Los Angeles River? Larry Smith>> Steelhead used to be in the Los Angeles River, but it requires a very clean river and water that's coming naturally into the river that's very clean and would symbolize a clean watershed. Val Zavala>> So that's your ultimate goal? Larry Smith: Ultimate goal. That's the vision. Val Zavala>> How many years do you think that will be? Larry Smith>> I'd like to say in my lifetime. Val Zavala>> Well, you look young enough to make that about thirty or forty years (laughter)? Larry Smith>> Yeah, about that (laughter). Val Zavala>> Larry Smith, best of luck to you. It's a beautiful project and thank you so much for all your hard work. Larry Smith>> Thank you, thank you. Val Zavala>> For more information on the Oros Street project and other projects, you can go to their website at northeasttrees.org. 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 the third of the Bourne movies. "The Bourne Ultimatum" returns Matt Damon as Jason Bourne. Julia Stiles and Joan Allen are also in the cast of the espionage thriller directed by Paul Greengrass. [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> I'm joined this week by critics Henry Sheehan of henrysheehan.com and Andy Klein of CityBeat. Henry, start us off on "The Bourne Ultimatum". Henry Sheehan>> Well, you know, that rare combination from Hollywood. A movie that's very well made and is a lot of fun at the same time. It's the third and we're told the final episode in the story of Jason Bourne, obviously a paid assassin who wakes up on a bench in Vienna and doesn't know who he is. Now in this third part, he's getting closer and closer. Paul Greengrass, who directed the second outing, "The Bourne Supremacy", is back and he just does a remarkable job with the action sequences, introducing suspense into every corner of the movie. Damon hits this role just right, I think, you know, just a little cold, a little reserved, but showing that yearning and upset at the same time. It has one of the best action set pieces I've ever seen set in a Waterloo train station. You know, go. Great summer movie. Larry Mantle>> Andy? Andy Klein>> I'm not quite as enthusiastic as Henry. I mean, I did think this was, in a number of ways, a great action film except that the action is so relentless that even an action buff like me was waiting for some relief. I mean, it really is one chase sequence after another and they're terrifically well done. But there's also the problem that Greengrass uses hand-held camera a lot. He likes this very raw style, which I appreciate, but for an hour and forty-five minutes of hand-held chases, it can get a little bit much on your stomach. I agree that Matt Damon all through the three films has really been right on the mark. I mean, he is a real good actor. Julia Stiles here, I could probably have lived without. I really thought she was at her blandest. But basically, you know, this is a lot of fun. I can't tell you how the plot finally resolves. That wouldn't be fair. Larry Mantle>> In "Becoming Jane", Anne Hathaway stars as a fictionalized young Jane Austen who has a big love affair that supposedly fuels her later writing. [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> "Becoming Jane", Andy? Andy Klein>> I've been informed by my Jane Austen consultants, who I have to use frequently these days -- Larry Mantle>> -- part of your expanding payroll (laughter). Andy Klein>> (Laughter) That nothing in this film really is based on more than a couple of lines in one letter she wrote referring to having met some guy one summer. But basically what they've done here is they've taken those two or three lines from a letter and expanded it into this fantasy romance between Jane Austen and a seemingly irresponsible young man, very charming, played by James McAvoy. Anne Hathaway is pretty good in this. She still seems sort of ill at ease to me somehow doing British, but she's okay. The whole thing is sort of a nice contrived romance that's like a pastiche of Jane Austen. It's not up to Jane Austen quality. You don't really expect that. But overall it was pretty enjoyable. Larry Mantle>> What did you think, Henry? Henry Sheehan>> Well, I think if you've ever wondered what a collaboration between John Hughes and James Ivory would look like, this is the movie for you to go see. I found this movie both dull and ridiculous and, when something is ridiculous, I want to at least see a little energy to go along with it, but there's nothing here. There's nothing really here to have anything to do with Jane Austen except they steal freely from some of her plots to construct this phony-baloney story that she must have had some romance. You know, you'd think the people who wrote this screenplay are imaginative writers, so they must know that they used their imagination. They don't just construct their stories out of something that happened to them at one time. Why would that be the case of the greatest novelist perhaps in the English language that she wrote her novels based on some supposed affair that she might have had, but we all know didn't have? Anne Hathaway is bad casting, not a bad performance. Larry Mantle>> "This Is England" takes us back to a Britain of the 1980s and tells the story of a twelve year old boy, Shaun, who's a misfit until he finds his way into a group of skinheads. [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> "This Is England", Henry? Henry Sheehan>> Well, there was a time in England when a lot of the films that came out of there were films of social protest or political protest. Shane Meadows is one of the few young filmmakers, he and Lynne Ramsey, who carry on that tradition. So even though I think there are faults in this film, I think he deserves credit for what he's doing. It's about a twelve or thirteen year old kid -- the actor is that age, but he looks like eight or nine -- who gets involved with some skinheads during the 1980s. The movie is about the transition of skinheads from kind of a multiracial group that got together kind of out of necessity in Thatcher, England into a group that joined up with the British National Front and became racist. I think the film, at times, is too didactic. I think Meadows needs to work out more of what he feels about father figures, which is a big theme in his films. But it's still something that's quite worth seeing. Larry Mantle>> What did you think, Andy? Andy Klein>> I have to say that I was kind of left cold by this film. I think that the kid, Thomas Turgoose, did a really terrific job, the actor who played the lead role and it's his first thing and he's just terrific. But this is one of those films where I go, "Haven't I seen this story twenty times before?" I mean, I know that bad economic situations and disaffected youth ends up creating, you know, an attraction to fascism. I've seen it in movies like "American History X" and "Pressure Point", if you want to go that far back. Maybe if I'd been a little more engaged by the characters here, I wouldn't have been so much sitting there going like, "Well, yeah, tell me something new." It's well done. I just could not work up any enthusiasm. Larry Mantle>> And that wraps up another edition of FilmWeek on Life and Times. I'm Larry Mantle of 89.3 KPCC joined by critics Andy Klein of CityBeat and Henry Sheehan of henrysheehan.com. Please join us again next week for another FilmWeek on Life and Times. Val Zavala>> For a longer version of FilmWeek, tune into KPCC Fridays at eleven a.m. And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. 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 |