Five Things This Week: 2021, Week 26

How the U.S. Made Progress on Climate Change Without Ever Passing a Bill
The Atlantic
This week as the Biden Administration inched closer to an epic infrastructure bill that contains a number of items they say would help fight climate change. The Sunrise Movement, a high-profile climate advocacy group made up mostly of young people, protested across the street from the White House. Now prominent progressive lawmakers have threatened to derail the bill because it doesn’t contain enough to fight climate change. 
This isn’t a new battle. Famously, Obama fought to push a major climate bill that stalled. 
But what if I told you we’ve surpassed the lofty goals sought out in that legislation without it ever passing? How is that possible? 
This is a fascinating look at how people and businesses (with incentives) took the initiative to start making changes to combat climate change even when the government couldn’t or wouldn’t take meaningful action.

The Beatles: Get Back—An Exclusive Deep Dive Into Peter Jackson’s Revelatory New Movie
Vanity Fair
I love the Beatles. I love their music, yes, but I also love the story of the Beatles just as much because it’s not just these four blokes from Liverpool that conquered the world overnight like their story is often reduced to. No, it’s about two friends who put together a band and worked really, really, really hard, caught a break and then set the world on fire with a well-crafted sound. But it goes on, because at the height of their fame they stopped touring but continued to make incredible music. And then they broke up and the individual members continued to make influential and exciting music (Well, Ringo at least made (and makes!) entertaining music…). 
About that break up… Yoko’s fault, right? The documentary “Let It Be” that came out in 1970 certainly suggested that was part of it, as well as festering discord among the four that made the “Let It Be” sessions an acrimonious slog. 
Or was it? 
Peter Jackson – yes, he of “Lord of The Rings” fame – gained access to hours of footage from those sessions and, viewed together, paints a very different picture of that period. Peter Jackson was uniquely positioned for this task because his studio performed cutting edge restoration of World War I footage for the haunting documentary, “They Shall Not Grow Old” – seriously, go check out the trailer: it’s like you’re watching a reenactment, but it’s original footage! 
I was already super excited when news of Peter Jackson’s documentary broke last year and it was just going to be a movie. Now it’s going to be a six-hour mini-series on Apple+??
As we patiently (or not-so-patiently) wait for the release this fall, this article talks to Peter Jackson and looks at how it came together and what the remaining Beatles think about this revised look at the end of the Beatles.

A new Van Gogh work discovered hidden in a book
The Art Newspaper
You ever make a doodle on a piece of paper and use that scrap to keep your place in a book? Apparently so did Vincent Van Gogh. He gave the book to a fellow Dutch artist, Anthon van Rappard, without likely realizing his bookmark was still in there. Their relationship soured, but Rappard – and his family – kept the book (signed with “Vincent” on the cover) until 2019 when the Van Gogh museum bought it. Alright, check your old books now! 

Summer of Soul
Hulu and in theaters (remember those?)
Full disclosure: I have not yet seen this documentary because it just came out today. I have seen the trailer (here) and I cannot wait to watch the whole thing. When we think of the summer of 1969 generally two things come to mind: the moon landing and Woodstock. This should be in there, too, because over six weeks in Harlem a who’s-who of the most important African American artists performed free shows that were recorded, but never aired. Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson presents the unearthed footage along with interviews from performers and people who were there to put this landmark festival in its rightful place on the mantle of the most important concerts in America. 

Dear Olivia Rodrigo: Ignore the internet. “Originality” is overrated.
Vox
Unless you’re slightly obsessed with music and pop culture like I am, it’s entirely likely you’re asking “What’s this fuss with Olivia Rodrigo and everyone bagging on her?” Or it’s just as likely you’re asking “Who is Olivia Rodrigo?” 
Background: Olivia Rodrigo is an teen actor and musician. She first gained prominence playing Paige Olvera, a guitarist in the Disney Channel series “Bizaardvark” for three seasons. Following that she played Nini Salazar-Roberts in Disney+’s “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.” Then, last year all that acting stuff kinda became background because she released the mega-single “Driver’s License” (That’s a YouTube link; here’s the Spotify link). It’s a lovely song and led to her debut album release, “Sour,” in May of this year. It met with critical acclaim with a Metacritic score of 83. The AV Club wrote “Her debut record, SOUR, will be a contender for best pop album of the year.” While the New York Times called it a “Nuanced and often exceptional debut album.”
Young woman makes well-received art so, inevitably, the backlash begins! This article deals with the backlash in general, but there’s two items I’d like to single out. First, Courtney Love – yes, Mrs. Kurt Cobain, and the former lead singer of the band Hole – took offense at Rodrigo’s promo image for her upcoming concert film “SOUR Prom”. Love went so far as calling it plagiarism. I’ll let you judge, this side-by-side provided by Page Six

Love wrote on her Facebook page, “It was rude of her, and [Rodrigo’s record label] geffen not to ask myself or [’Live Through This’ cover photographer] Ellen von Enwerth.” Oh, there’s more: “Stealing an original idea and not asking permission is rude,” she continued. “There’s no way to be elegant about it. I’m not angry. it happens all the time to me. And he really [sic] I’m very gracious or say nothing. But this was bad form. That’s not bullying or bomb throwing. This persons [sic] music has nothing to do with my life. Possibly never will. It was rude and I gave [sic] every right to stick up for my work…”
That’s a lot. But I’d prefer to let Elvis Costello have the last word here. Someone tweeted that the first song on Rodrigo’s album, “brutal,” is “pretty much a direct lift” of Costello’s 1978 hit, “Pump It Up.” The riff absolutely is. But the name “brutal,” is half of Costello’s 1994 “Brutal Youth,” album title so its hard to imagine this was any sort of plagiaristic subterfuge. Costello himself replied to that tweet with this: “This is fine by me, Billy. It’s how rock and roll works. You take the broken pieces of another thrill and make a brand new toy. That’s what I did. #subterraneanhomesickblues #toomuchmonkeybusiness”.
Yes. 
Yes. 
Yes.
Rock on, Olivia. 

Selfie: 2021, Week 24 – Packing For a Trip

The camp chair didn’t make the cut. Nor did the little table. For that matter, I’m leaving my hammock and back up camp stove.

I’m not really complaining, mind you. The aluminum paniers on my bike are cavernous and swallow enough equipment to make a pretty comfortable camp situation without having to go all ultra-light backpacking. My packing list started as a sprawling collection of “Would Be Nice” and eventually gets whittled down to “What will fit.”

Saturday my friend Terry and I are embarking on a nine-day motorcycle trip out through southern Nevada to Zion National Park and Capitol Reef State Park, and numerous other points of interest. It’s a trip many months in the making, but naturally you’ve got all the time in the world right up until you’re scrambling to put the final touches in place before it’s kickstand-up and we’re away.

The guiding principle of packing is trying to find that delicate balance between bringing too much and too little. That hammock? I’ve brought it on my last two road trips but haven’t actually used it in the field. It’s all about sorting the “Need Its” from the “Nice to Haves.”

But after a year where we all pared life down to a pretty spare version of “Need It,” it’s understandable that we all want to throw in a few “Nice to Haves.” I mentioned our itinerary to the bartender I worked with on Saturday whose regular job involved dropping off rented Sprinter camper vans to clients all across the West. He mentioned that people are out and about in droves these days – that jibes with the insane demand for campground reservations we encountered. But, seriously, after a year cooped up, who isn’t ready to get out there?

My tool kit is a lot more, well, useful this time around. I’m embarrassed to say that in trips past on this bike I’ve carried my requisite tire plugging kit and air compressor and then a hodge podge of screwdrivers and sockets I hoped I’d never have to actually use (you can take anything apart with a 10- and 12mm socket, right?). Getting back in touch with working on my bike myself has helped me build an extremely useful tool kit… that I still hope I don’t have to use…. But if I do I at least know what I’m doing.

It’s funny, despite having gone to grad school in Utah, I’ve traveled very little in the arid southern part of the state (broke grad school students, don’t you know). In fact, the only other time I’ve been down to that area was 25 years ago. Exactly 25 years ago I ventured out with my uncle Chuck on another epic motorcycle trip that took us as far east as Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills. The return leg followed the Colorado river down from Estes Park, Colorado down to Arches National Park outside of Moab. I remember our itinerary had us continue south to some ferry crossing on the river before heading home, but the unrelenting triple digit temperatures made us curtail our plans and aim a more direct path home to more reasonable temperatures.

This week one of those infamous “Heat Dome” phenomena of high pressure has parked itself over the southwest, with meteorologists predicting record-breaking temperatures all week, and I can’t help but think of the sweltering afternoon in Moab when we decided it was just too damn hot.

Three years ago, I thought it might not be that bad if I stay a night in Death Valley in early July. And, really, the Wildrose campground at 4,000 feet was reasonable at 96 degrees. It was just the 113-degree furnace I rode across for hours that did the damage.

Long pants didn’t make the cut. I know, I know, it could get cold at night. But I also know from that Death Valley stop that my tent has pretty lousy cross-ventilation; I’m not worried about getting cold even if the heat dome is supposed to start subsiding just as we start our first leg through the Sierras.

One of the complications of packing for this trip is anticipating some of the improvisations we may have to make to deal with the crowds. We weren’t able to get reservations for our ideal spots, so we’re going to have a few nights in “dispersed” campsites. If you’re not familiar with that term “dispersed” camping it means there are no amenities. Bathroom? Nope. Potable water? Nope. So, while I won’t need the 5L water cube the first couple nights, I need to leave room for when we’re going to rely on the water we bring in.

But that’s the nature of the adventure. Pare the list down to what you can fit on a motorcycle, point yourself out to places I’ve never been to and adjust to whatever comes.

Oh, and those aforementioned aluminum panniers? They actually make a pretty good chair and table in and of themselves.

PS: As always I’m bringing my Spot locator beacon in case things go completely pear-shaped. But it has a neat feature that lets me “check in” by sending an email with a link to a map showing my location to a pre-set list of email addresses. If you’re curious, drop me a line with your email address and I’ll add you to the list for the trip (Also, the locator beacon is named “Doug.” So you’ll get an email from “Doug.”).

PPS: I’m hoping to be able to post some updates and pictures from the road. I think I have these grand intentions every time and I never manage to get anything posted. But we’ll see! Stay tuned!

Five Things This Week: 2021, Week 23

The Apple employees’ complaint letter is also a road map for reopening offices
Quartz
Tim Cook sent employees an email indicating everyone should come back to the office in early September at least three days a week (Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays). The group response from a large number of employees? “Yeah, we kind of like working from home…” Yes, it’s just one company, but as the title suggests, it may be indicative of folks being less than enthusiastic about returning to office life.

How the World Ran Out of Everything
New York Times
The auto industry is struggling with a shortage of computer chips. We all know about the Great TP Shortage Of 2020™. And don’t get me started on lumber prices… So, what gives? Why did we run out of everything?

Can You Say It in Mutsun?
Peninsula Open Space Trust
This is a little piece I think points to a bigger, more hopeful trend. The folks at the Peninsula Open Space Trust asked Natalie Pineida from the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band to provide the Mutsun words for common California trees, including their pronunciation. It’s a small step towards acknowledging the native people who lived on this land before us, and small steps matter. It doesn’t reverse the terrible things we did to them, but it acknowledges that they are still present, still relevant.

Anatomy of a Hoax
The Paris Review
After the death of Eric Carle, the writer and illustrator of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, many people circulated a story he told about an argument he had with his publisher about whether the caterpillar should “suffer an episode of nausea” after overeating. The problem is, there never was an argument and Eric Carle never said such a thing.

2021 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392 Goes Nuclear
Car and Driver
Okay, I love me a Jeep Wrangler, but the point of this link isn’t the car being reviewed. Okay… it’s not just the car being reviewed (I mean, it’s kind of awesome even though I wouldn’t want such a monster!), rather, it’s the writing. I have a few “journo-crushes” and Ezra Dyer is definitely one of them.