Posts tagged help
“End of Watch” a Buddy-Cop Movie with a Twist
Sep 29th
“Buddy-Cop Movie With a Twist”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
End of Watch is a powerful, almost traditional buddy-cop movie, but the language is raw, the action is violent, and it has an ending with an unexpected twist to it.
Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena play officers Brian Taylor and Mike Zavala, who work in the Los Angeles Police Department as partners ane whose area that they patrol is the rough arena of South Central Los Angeles, which Taylor says has three major food groups: drugs, money, and guns.
When the movie opens, it is the first day back on the job for Taylor and Zavala after they were cleared by an investigation into a shooting they were involved in, and once they are out in their patrol car, Zavala says, “Dude, it’s good to be back, Man.”
Taylor has a recording device in his uniform for a class project he is working on, and so a lot of the footage we see is from the point of view of that device, which is called “found footage” these days, but don’t worry. The whole movie isn’t from that POV, but enough is so that at times the movie gets confusing.
So, we watch and listen to the good-natured banter between these two friends as they drive around the city between calls, we learn about their personal lives as they talk and even see some aspects of them at various points in the movie, and we witness many of the calls they go on and see just how rough and dangerous being a policeman in today’s Los Angeles can be, both for them and other police officers who are called in to help.
In addition to the commonplace calls that Taylor and Zavala make, the main story point is a turf war between two rival gangs, one composed of black people and the other composed of Latinos, who have connections with drug cartels operating out of Mexico and who are also involved with the trafficking of illegals being brought up from Mexico and kept in terrifying and dangerous conditions.
In fact, Taylor and Zavala stumble into the ramifications of the main story more than anything else, and once again we see how in movies situations can go from bad to the worst you can imagine.
End of Watch is terrific and get ready for the twist at the end.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.
Stanford conventional v. organic study a pile of crap.
Sep 27th
The question, really, is how could such a stellar research institution as Stanford U. publish such a pile of crap? Analyzing 237 existing studies and determining that organic fruits and vegetables are no more nutritious than conventional (read: industrial agriculture). Actually the study seems more a hack job to pay a favor to Big Ag donors, although the researchers made a point early that internal funds were used to fund the work. Does that raise your suspicions a bit?
In the first place, they were almost certainly wrong. A number of recent studies have indicated organic produce has 10-30% more nutrients than conventional.
If they were trying to contribute to the body of knowledge, why not look into the environmental costs of industrial agriculture, such as pesticides in the water and air, the medical costs of workers exposed to such toxins.
Why ignore a whole other level of heath benefits of phytochemicals which are much more prevalent in organic produce because industrial agriculture intensive application of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and heavy watering have depleted the soil of nutrients need to produce phytochemicals.
How important are they?
Phytonutrients are nutrients derived from plant material that have been shown to be necessary for sustaining human life. Phytochemicals are non-nutritive plant chemicals that contain protective, disease-preventing, compounds. Their role in plants is to protect plants from disease, injuries, insects, drought, excessive heat, ultraviolet rays, and poisons or pollutants in the air or soil. They form part of the plants immune system.
Although phytochemicals are not yet classified as nutrients, substances necessary for sustaining life, they have been identified as containing properties for aiding in disease prevention. Phytochemicals are associated with the prevention and/or treatment of at least four of the leading causes of death in Western countries – cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension. They are involved in many processes including ones that help prevent cell damage, prevent cancer cell replication, and decrease cholesterol levels.
So—pretty damn important. But apparently not to the Stanford researchers.
But Big Ag got it’s headline, and that’s what’s important.
Perry’s Shoe Shop
Sep 23rd
Since 1922, Perry’s Shoe Shop has been working to repair men’s, women’s, and children’s shoes to make sure they are as comfortable as possible. With the help of our family-owned-and-operated shoe shop, you are able to keep your shoes and boots looking like new for as long as possible.
Whether you own old worn out boots or classy dress shoes, we work with the highest quality products, on all types of leather goods, to give you a look that is incomparable. Perry shoe shop will repair your dress shoes, boots, Hiking boots, dance shoes, sports shoes and other leather products. We have over 30 years of expertise in fitting orthotics and shoe lifts. If you are out of state see our Repair by Mail section.
1711 15th St.
Boulder, CO 80302
303-443-4580
Email: perrysshoe@comcast.net
Monday – Thursday 9 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Friday 9 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Saturday 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.