Earthiness
and other dirt-related thoughts

Movie Reviews & Preview Review
Brave & La Luna
June 28, 2012

Movie audiences tell you right away what they like.

Several days ago, we went to see Disney-Pixar's Brave. It was the 597th film seen this year. It seems. The audience's absolute favorite part of the movie reaction-wise was the preview of Despicable Me 2.

I'm not certain I got all the nuances of the preview, since I never [confession alert] saw Despicable Me #1. Four yellow minions sing Barbara Ann by the Beach Boys, without knowing the lyrics, until the punch line.  The audience loved it; I thought it was good for action and characterization while avoiding plot revelations.



The best part of Brave for me was the Pixar short La Luna that preceded it.

It's not that Brave wasn't good. Brave tells the animated story of a young red-haired woman, Merida, in middle-ages Scotland. Disney-Pixar (whenever I say "Disney-Pixar," I say it quickly together like I'm sneezing it out -- ah, eh, DisneyPixar!) calls Brave its first full-length fairy tale.



You may ask if it has any sports in it.

I'd have to answer, "Does it have any sports in it? Are you kidding? Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, True Love, miracles..."*

Two of the things Pixar never could do earlier were hair and the motion of animals (like horses). As I watched Brave, I couldn't help thinking about how they got past the hair (with Merida), but the horse still could use some work. Some spots were blurred over, but others seemed to be missing motion or muscles were working backward from natural motion.

I don't know what to say. I've read that Brave went through several directors, which could explain its lack of nuances. Its cultural implications may be relevant in India, but I can't think of anywhere else where arranged marriages are an issue.

It's a good movie.



La Luna, written and directed by Enrico Casarosa, is a cinematic-animated masterpiece. If you took the Mona Lisa and hung it on the wall of the Sistine Chapel and laid on the floor below the Mona Lisa, looking up to the painting and the ceiling, you would still have difficulty capturing the start-to-finish wonder of La Luna. Seeing La Luna in a theater, on the huge canvas, is worth several times the price of admission. Everyone should see La Luna. It is an art film for the whole family.

Brave         

La Luna    

---

Music Associations: King Harvest - Dancing in the Moonlight & Beach Boys - Barbara Ann
* Movie Association: The Princess Bride







Dirty Water
June 27, 2012

The Minnesota Department of Health reminds us that just because the sun is out and flood waters have receded, doesn't mean well water is safe to drink. Free water test kits are available from county offices.

---

Music Associations: Eddie Money - Give Me Some Water & Standells - Dirty Water







Huge Solar Energy Spill
June 26, 2012

A huge solar energy spill threatens to engulf the Twin Cities this week. Yesterday it brightened the day like there was no tomorrow.



In related news, Greenpeace wanted to put up this billboard in Canada. Edmonton's Pattison Outdoor refused the Greenpeace money.  Maybe this has something to do with the rash of oil spills.

June 18 - Elk Point, Alberta: 1,450 barrels of oil spilled at Enbridge's Athabasca pumping station
Darin Barter, of the Energy Resources Conservation Board, described the area of the oil spill, "There's absolutely no waterways, there's no water, there's no standing water, it's on dry land."

Mr. Barter? I have a question. Pick me! Pick me! Thank you. I was looking at your map of the area of the spill near Elk Point. You said the spill is not near water...

"There's absolutely no waterways, there's no water, there's no standing water, it's on dry land," Darin Barter repeated.

Okay, I got that. But on the map, what's that blue squiggly line running between the pumping station and Elk Point that calls itself the "North Saskatchewan River?" If Elk Point is 24 kilometers from the oil spill, it looks as if the river is about six kilometers from the oil spill. Is the river still frozen, or is it water? (Today's high is 75° F.) 'Cause if it's water, it seems to flow straight west to Edmonton.

Enbridge Inc says the spill was caused by a failure of a flange gasket in the pumping station. Their solution? Scare cannons. The company said scare cannons have been set up as a deterrent to prevent birds from landing in the spill.

Scare cannons are what they sound to be -- noise.

Here's a Scare Wars video that says:
"Scare Wars is a complete bird and wildlife abatement system, that utilizes the trusted LP cannon plus the bird guard sound generator, and integrates modern technology of computer-controlled operation that communicates with remote bird deterrent units. Unlike timer driven LP cannon, the scare wars cannons only fire when safety personnel see birds around the airfield... [using] our new Windows 98 based software."

Enbridge Inc is an expert at spilling oil. They've had over 800 oil spills since 1999. They don't limit their oil spills to Canada.  The Kalamazoo, Michigan oil spill of over 800,000 gallons of crude in July 2010 was one of theirs. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has just released more than 500 documents relating to that spill. The documents include some interesting details. When the pipeline ruptured, a leak-detection alarm shutdown the flow. Enbridge controllers overrode the automated shutdown, increasing pressure and spilling more oil.  The automated system shutdown the pipeline again. The Enbridge braintrust opened it up again, spilling more oil. The automated system shutdown the pipeline again.  The Enbridge idiots were about to open the pipeline up again, when they received word of the oil spill from a Michigan utility company. Brilliant. [more] The Control Center Operation Supervisor asked the MBS Analyst B “what do you call that,” and the MBS Analyst B replied “just call it a false alarm” Shift Lead B1 said “okay, false alarm procedure and read:   “If Shift leader, MBS determine that the MBS alarm is temporary, pipeline operator continue normal operations. No pipeline shut downs is required or if pipeline was shut down, resume normal operation.”  - NTSB Kalamazoo oil spill report p.12 Operator B1 said to Operator B2 the terminal operator,  “So close it, all my pumps are down, so I don’t care. You can close off whatever because it’s not going to take me down, that’s for sure”... Operator B2 said to Operator B1 [NTSB probably has this backwards, B1 to B2] “whatever, we’re going home and will be off for few days.”  - NTSB Kalamazoo oil spill report p.15

June 7 - Red Deer River, Alberta: up to 3,000 Barrels of oil spilled into a Red Deer River tributary
This oil spill is about 75 kilometers upstream from the city of Red Deer (pop. 91,877). Jackson Creek is a tributary of  Red Deer River, which flows into the Gleniffer Lake and reservoir.  Gleniffer Lake (not Beniffer) was named after an early Jennifer Lopez romance.

Alberta province issued an emergency alert for Mountain View and Red Deer counties, warning people not to touch, drink, swim, fish, or boat on the waterways affected by the spill. "Don't even think about water," Alberta said.

May 30 - Rainbow Lake, Alberta: 22,000 Barrels of oil spilled straight into the lake
The Pace Oil & Gas company heard about the Rainbow Lake oil spill because another company with operations in the area spotted the spill from the air. Maybe it's called Rainbow Lake because of the oily shine on the water.

May 8 - Samson Cree Nation Oil Spill: raw natural gas (gas, water, & light oil)
A natural gas+oil spill on Hobbema First Nation land was discovered by a farmer's children, ten days after the farmer heard a loud Boom. At first, an AltaGas subsidiary denied that it was their pipeline, but later AltaGas confirmed the spill near Hobbema, northeast of Ponoka was theirs.

This is just the recent stuff. Alberta, Canada has a whole history of oil spills.

---

Music Association: Standells - Dirty Water



            



Get Dirty
June 25, 2012

One day I thought I'd grow some soil.

Anybody can grow plants. Growing soil is kind of tricky.

To make an indoor worm bin, I took a Rubbermaid or Sterilite 22 gallon plastic tub and drilled holes all over it. Technically, I didn't use the drill. The drill wanted to whip the tub around like a fan blade. I took the drill bit in hand and manually drilled over 120 holes top, bottom, and sides. The holes will be big enough for a worm to look out, but oddly enough they never leave.

I put newspaper down on the bottom of the tub, as if for puppies.

I called ahead to the EggPlant Urban Farm Supply store and ordered $25 worth of worms.  When I picked up the worms, EggPlant warned me to get the worms into their new home before they chew through the paper bag. I rushed them home. I emptied the worms into the bin and watched them. They didn't do much.  I read what to feed them (most vegetables, leaves, some rinsed eggshells, newspaper) and what not to feed them (meat, crap) and things that are okay within limits to feed them but I don't (citrus, bread).

Fast forward two years.  Here's what I've learned: