Mikhail Gorbachev, photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

The issue of nuclear proliferation is one that has been brewing under the radar for decades. Despite the obvious and profound dangers of nuclear weapons, strikingly little has been done to eliminate the spread of their usage. Now, following the 65th anniversary of the bombing in Hiroshima, writer and director Lucy Walker presents a sobering look at the shocking present-day situation in her new film, “Countdown to Zero”. Walker employs a variety of startling statistics delivered mostly by high-ranking government officials, including Former USSR General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, Former CIA Covert Operations Officer Valerie Plame Wilson, Harvard associate professor Matthew Bunn, Princeton nuclear physicist Alexander Glaser, Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, and many others, all of whom are in support of a radical change in policy.

John F. Kennedy said, in a 1961 United Nations address, “Every man, woman and child lives under a nuclear sword of Damocles, hanging by the slenderest of threads, capable of being cut at any moment by accident, or miscalculation, or by madness.” This theme of accident, miscalculation, or madness is heavily interspersed throughout the film, as emphasis of the delicate forces that could quite easily decimate countless lives.

Right now, nuclear arms analyst Jeffrey Lewis tells us, approximately 23,000 nuclear weapons are estimated to exist in the world. Russia leads the pack, with around 12,000 total, but the U.S. holds a close second at 9,613. Under the present plan, our weapons are set ready to launch immediately upon orders in reaction to news of attack. At this moment, it would take about 2 minutes for the U.S. and Russia to launch most of their missiles, and within 15 minutes both entire nuclear arsenals would be released.

photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

It’s common knowledge that the damage caused at Hiroshima was immense. Of the 76,000 buildings in the city, 70,000 were destroyed. The immediate heat from a nuclear explosion is said to reach 10 million degrees Kelvin, hotter than the surface of the sun. Those closest to the explosion died instantly, with their bodies turned to ash. Those lucky enough to survive suffered the lasting effects of radiation, some of which, including a greatly increased risk of cancer, were passed down to subsequent generations. All that was due to a then newly discovered technology, with a final design that was little more than a rough prototype. Now, with a count of nearly 10,000 pieces of sophisticated nuclear weaponry currently in our possession, the effect of a modern-day nuclear backlash would be catastrophic, to say the least. And the creation of nuclear weapons is spreading. Three other countries, France, China, and the U.K, are officially in possession of such weapons, and evidence has been confirmed of Israel, India, and Pakistan unofficially occupying places on the list as well. A total of 40 countries are estimated to have the capability to build an atom bomb, through black market uranium and stolen weapon plans.

Just as startling is the wide range of accidents that have been demonstrated over the years. Many documented military operations are both vastly intricate and of herculean magnitude, often riding on the smallest details. In the past, objects such as the rising moon or a flock of geese have been recorded as being mistaken for oncoming missiles. With an average of only 30 seconds to several minutes in a world leader’s time allotted for a decision on how to respond to news of a nuclear attack, we can’t afford for such mistaken assessments to even enter the picture when the response holds the fate of thousands of lives. A hasty decision could result in irreparable damage and profoundly unnecessary bloodshed. Too many lives are riding on an ultimately unstable premise.

One segment of the film features a 1965 interview on the Trinity nuclear testings in which Oppenheimer, with a tear in his eye, recounts, “We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, ‘Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’ I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.”

The good news is that steps are finally being taken to ameliorate this highly dangerous situation. During President Obama’s first address to the United Nations General Assembly, he spoke of worldwide change, remarking that, “In an era where our destiny is shared, power is no longer a zero-sum game.” This led to a unanimous resolution the following day calling for the elimination of all nuclear weapons, under the name Global Zero. The Global Zero campaign was formally launched at a gathering of 100 world leaders in Paris in December 2008, as “a framework for the phased, verified elimination of nuclear weapons, starting with deep reductions to the U.S. and Russian arsenals.” Similar action was taken back in 1986 at the Reykjavik Summit, when Reagan and Gorbachev, against the promptings of their advisers, proposed total nuclear abolition. The proposition ultimately failed, but Walker asserts that, “this demonstrates that it took only the political will of two leaders to slice through any amount of bureaucracy, inertia, fear and opposition.”

Right now, the issue at hand is urgent. The U.S. and Russia have signed a treaty called the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) which will significantly reduce the number of weapons in both countries’ arsenals, but prior to implementation, U.S. Senate approval is required. It has become clear that the faster we can act, the sooner we can rest assured that we are creatinga safer world for everyone. As Kennedy famously said, “The weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us.”

You can sign the petition requesting that the U.S. Senate approve the START Treaty at http://www.care2.com/zero or find out more about Global Zero at http://www.takepart.com/zero.

photo courtesy of Arcade Fire

I sit here at my laptop, typing, all the while surrounded by the computer’s enveloping blue glow, as Arcade Fire’s Win Butler softly sings: “I used to sleep at night/ before the flashing light settled deep in my brain.”

Heavy words, and if you let them sink in, it’s hard to escape their penetrating gaze. Arcade Fire’s quietly brilliant new album, The Suburbs, is a strikingly bold compendium of many such statements, bursting at the edges both with cries of defiant protest, and voices often seeped in eerie unease at the direction our civilization is headed, a direction rife with instant gratification and disturbing indifference. We are living in a nation in which only 52 percent of citizens aged 18 to 29 cast their ballots in the 2008 election, according to the national exit poll. The question of what exactly is causing this kind of intense and growing societal apathy is explored by these musicians with nearly flawless depth, unfettered realism, and charmingly self-deprecating good humor.

“Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” is a clever critique of 80’s materialism, and the present-day rampant consumerism such ideals have wrought. Framed on the surface as a sparkly disco confessional, the song presents a fiercely vehement answer to heedless urban expansion. Backed by spattering synths, Regine Chassagne sounds like a distressed, yet insistent Cyndi Lauper as she cries, nearly screaming by the end of the song: “Living in the sprawl/ The dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains/ And there’s no end in sight/ I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights.”

Today’s mercenary atmosphere is a world seemingly teeming with life, filled with pulsating lights, a world in which advertisers create commercials that are, in the words of essayist David Foster Wallace, so much “prettier, livelier, full of enough rapidly juxtaposed visual quanta…(that they are) becoming more like entertaining films.” In the end of course, the inherent emptiness of such reckless vapidity proves inescapable. Weaving gracefully in and out of songs, our heroes search desperately in the suburbs for some kind of lasting memory, a sense of home to hold onto, but upon returning to “these towns they built to change,” all semblances of the past have vanished and we are left with a bleakly unrecognizable landscape.

It’s all fodder for beautiful narrative, this talk of memory and childhood, and the Proustian subject matter gives rise to some of the album’s most poignant and ephemeral moments. “Sprawl I (Flatlands)” is a prime example of affecting lyricism. There is a hesitant vulnerability coupled with confused anger that perfectly captures both the paradoxical experience of adolescence and the later life sadness of fading recollections. The song is a mournful, down tempo scorcher, complete with aching strings that sigh in the background. Butler’s delivery of the lyrics is at times almost humorously grandiose, yet in a way that is instantly gripping. As he confronts a nosy cop by spouting lofty philosophical musings, the effect is unexpectedly touching. Here we find a courageous defender of sincerity in the song’s undeniably broken and angry protagonist.

It seems that despite the obvious connotations of gloom and emptiness, there are deep underpinnings of hope, a gently persistent hope that quite loudly refuses to fade. Our current generation has been widely criticized for our apparent apathy and cynicism, and many chalk it up to the current anxiety-ridden political climate or the crushing pressure to succeed that is placed on today’s youth. However, the truth is that such attitudes are not irreversible. Hidden within The Suburbs, the prevailing message proves to be much more rallying cry than elegy.

photo courtesy of Gabriel Jones/Arcade Fire

The lyrically and sonically aggressive “Month of May” bravely calls the cynics out on their bluff. Biting guitars and infectious hooks are accompanied by tunefully droning harmonies while Butler yelps: “So young, so young/ So much pain for someone so young/ Well, I know it’s heavy, I know it ain’t light/ But how you gonna lift it with your arms folded tight?” A more gentle commentary is found in the dreamlike “Half Light I” Backed by swelling strings, the singers wax poetic, speaking of breaking free from the confining walls of their houses and escaping into the night. They reflect upon how different the uniform streets and buildings look in the hazy moonlight, as if everything were starting anew. At the end, the music softly fades to the chant: “We are not asleep/ We are in the streets,” like a crowd of protestors with perfect intonation. The comforting freedom of darkness is a recurring theme, as is the necessity and the resulting joy of a return to the untamed, to the natural world that both grounds us and releases us. This seems at the heart of the message, that in order to truly wake up, we must force ourselves to surrender to the undefined possibilities that lie before us, while the time still remains.

For now, I’m off to follow some sage advice, and to meditate upon the closing words of the hauntingly beautiful, bluesy pounder, “Deep Blue”: “Hey, put the laptop down for a while/ In the night, there is something wild/ I feel it/ It’s leaving me.”

It’s a widely accepted truth that in dreams, as in life, little is as it seems.

In writer and director Christopher Nolan’s new film “Inception,” that maxim is taken a step further. Nolan, creator of 2008’s “The Dark Knight,” weaves another cinematic masterpiece, a cerebral heist in which he suggests that our dreams can in fact be invaded and manipulated by members of a secret, highly-trained task force. If this sounds like a strain on the viewer’s credulity, let me just say that it was one so deftly and enchantingly handled that I was more than happy to comply. Not only is the film a visual marvel, but the plot is rich and complex, filled with smart, snappy dialogue.

Leading the undercover team is Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), a veteran of the practice with issues of his own relating to the line of work.

In the midst of Dom’s struggles with his personal demons, he and coworker Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) are hired by a millionaire (Ken Watanabe) to cause a business competitor to dissolve his father’s corporate empire. The assignment, Dom’s most challenging to date, involves a process called inception, the unprecedented act of not merely investigating the subject’s mind, but actually planting an idea within the subconscious. The pair are joined by a conglomeration of other skilled workers, and the group undergoes an intensive period of what is essentially a lengthy brainstorming session, aided by the technology that allows them to infiltrate and train their minds for the ensuing dream. …Read the rest of this post

July 14th marks the storming of the famous Parisian jail, considered by many to be the catalyst of the French Revolution. Today the event is celebrated in France as a holiday similar to our own Independence Day on July 4th.

The notorious episode has been at the center of many great works of literature including Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” and Victor Hugo’s “Les Miserables”, both past theater productions on Whidbey.

Today, I’d like to focus on some of the things about France we can appreciate in the modern day, whether or not they are the product of the tumultuous overthrow of the upper class carried out by the bourgeoisie. The country today is home to some quite virtuosic creative minds. Let’s take a look at a few notable artistic icons whose work we can all enjoy.

Michel Gondry: This French director is behind two of my favorite films, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “The Science of Sleep”. “Eternal Sunshine”, the more well-known of the two, stars Jim Carrey (amid your wincing, let me say that the acting is remarkably understated) and Kate Winslet as members of a couple who decide to undergo a procedure to erase each other from their respective memories as their relationship fades. Amazing in its own right for the sole fact that it contains Carrey in a role as an actual human being, the film has also come to represent something of an artistic marvel for me. Through beautifully dreamlike memory sequences, Gondry paints a poignant picture of the passage of time. …Read the rest of this post

As Whidbey’s mild summer heat gradually sets in, we all may begin to feel the onset of sloth. Here is a selection of books I have enjoyed lately that provide a dose of mental aerobics while maintaining that elusive air of summertime ease.

1. “Fathers and Sons” by Ivan Turgenev

Fun, clever, and sometimes tragic prose centers around the conflict between the older generation’s romanticism and the younger generation’s nihilism in 19th century Russia

2. “The God of Small Things” by Arundhati Roy

Beautiful story set in India during the rise of Communism in the 1960’s; subtly outlines the injustices of the caste system

3. “How Fiction Works” by James Wood

Extensive study of fiction writing’s main elements using the works of authors such as Flaubert, Nabokov, Homer as references to reveal the machinery of a novel …Read the rest of this post

Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with Seattle writer, actress, and director Marya Sea Kaminski. This talented thespian has played a part in many significant productions, including the title roles in Seattle Repertory Theater’s “My Name is Rachel Corrie” and Seattle Shakespeare’s production of the Greek tragedy “Elektra”. A wordsmith as well, she has been published in Rivet Magazine and the New York Theater Review, and has created over 20 original solo shows. In her own words, her personal interests include “lighting things on fire, metaphorically and otherwise.” Public response to her work has certainly been anything but tepid, with awards from numerous sources, such as the 2007 Seattle Times Footlight Award, three mentions on the Theatre Short list for The Stranger’s Genius Awards, Artist of the Year from Seattle Magazine, and Best Performing Artist from the readers of Seattle Weekly. Read on below to hear more about Marya Sea’s hopes, motivations, and her current obsession with dynamic crime duos.

photo courtesy of Marya Sea Kaminski

Whidbey Record: What first sparked your interest in writing?

Marya Sea Kaminski: I first started journaling the night I went into the hospital for major back surgery to treat my scoliosis. I was in the seventh grade and since then have kept at least one hundred journals. I think I first started because I was afraid that I was going to die during the surgery and I wanted to create something for my family to have to remember me. I think I kept writing because it occurred to me that exploring one’s own life would probably prove a worthwhile effort.

WR: How have your experiences in theater affected your writing, and vice versa?

MSK: My writing and my performance work have been inextricably connected since I turned twenty and starting taking these endeavors seriously. Though I love performing in plays, I have always been inspired to write and perform my own work. It creates multiple opportunities – to share my written work, to acrobatically flex my performance muscles and to perform pieces that I deeply connect to on a personal level.

WR: From what do you draw inspiration for your work?

MSK: Humans. Our fallibility. Our ability to hope even in the face of deep despair. The way we are constantly messing up and trying again. The moment we share when we laugh at ourselves. …Read the rest of this post

Director Lynn Shelton (center) with cast members (Image Credit: PictureGroup/MTV)

The  thriving music community of the Pacific Northwest most notably broke into the mainstream eye during the early 90’s through the explosive success of Seattle rock band Nirvana. But while grunge-era associations still widely pervade most mentions of the locale, Seattle has since come to house a diverse group of musicians who represent broadly ranging genres. Recent years have seen a meteoric rise in the independent music industry, and this hotbed of ingenuity has become integral to the movement. Fast emerging are bands such as woodsy roots rockers the Moondoggies, electronic hip-hop group Champagne Champagne, and garage pop power quartet the Tea Cozies, all featured in Seattle filmmaker Lynn Shelton’s latest work. The film, “$5 Cover: Seattle”, features 13 local bands in a pseudodocumentary style narrative with musical performances interspersed throughout the storyline.

Shelton, who recently received acclaim for her 2009 Sundance hit, “Humpday”, has a quick, offhand wit, and is adept at thinking on her feet. Shot over 29 days in 29 locations, the film has a raw,  personal feel that contributes to the already prevalent sense of immediacy. While not limited to documentary-style factual reporting, the story presents an honest depiction of its subjects that is free from the usual hype. The script and storyline were created through conversations with the bands, and the result of any creative liberties is an aesthetically detailed, yet no less realistic look at the lives devoted to music. …Read the rest of this post

photo courtesy of Dale Robinette, Paramount Pictures

At first glance, Ryan Bingham seems to be more than a bit coldhearted. He sits at a desk, completely calm, spouting tired lines like, “Anyone who ever changed the world or built an empire sat where you sat today, and it’s because they sat there that they were able to do it,” to people who have just heard what is arguably the worst news possible- “You’re fired.” Even under the guise of the gentle euphemism, “You’ve been let go,” this is still an immense blow, and we find ourselves astonished at the apparent hubris with which the message is delivered.

In Jason Reitman’s new film “Up in the Air,” Bingham (deftly played by George Clooney), has the unenviable job of breaking the news to the millions of Americans who suddenly find themselves without a job, and remarkably he seems to be having the time of his life. Hired by the numerous bosses who can’t bring themselves to actually carry out the task, his company trains its employees in dealing with the recipients’ confusion, angry threats, and nervous breakdowns, and equips them with cheery looking packets to distribute detailing the steps to dealing with unemployment.

Due to the immense downsizing of corporate America, the job requires Bingham and his coworkers to travel all across the country, with an average of 322 days per year on the road, a lifestyle to which he appears to be suited perfectly. He packs his suitcase with carefully choreographed precision, can swipe his hotel room key in mere milliseconds, and has the act of getting through airport security down to a science. “All the things you probably hate about traveling- the canned lighting, the recycled air, the cheap sushi- are warm reminders that I’m home,” he tells us. Bingham is a modern day Kerouac, exhilarated by the prospect of being on the move, and utterly terrified of being tied down. Addressing an audience in one of his “motivational” lectures, he says indignantly of humanity’s commitment to people and zip codes, “Some animals were meant to carry each other, to live symbiotically: kangaroos, star-crossed lovers. We are not those animals. The slower we move, the faster we die. We are not swans; we are sharks.” …Read the rest of this post

Listening to Vampire Weekend’s new album, “Contra”, is like pigging out on cream puffs while watching Bill Moyers on PBS. The addictive beats paired with brainy, compelling lyrics make for an ingenious hybrid of fluff and substance. You find yourself questioning exactly what story is playing out, and how such seemingly disparate elements find themselves linked inextricably. The fact that these elements are integrated into such a cohesive whole pulls together what could easily be a chaotic failed experiment.

This defiance of easy categorization has been at the heart of the band’s sound since their recent conception. Their eponymous 2008 debut both puzzled and charmed critics everywhere, earning the band a spot as one of today’s most inventive and divisive groups to grace the airwaves. You might think that as four recent Columbia graduates, they might occasionally slip into overintellectualization, but that pitfall is avoided completely. The intense spontaneity and joy within the work is inherent, and many songs have a beautiful simplicity to their expression. …Read the rest of this post

Thanks for taking a look at my new blog. As an ardent aficionado of the arts and literature, I’m always eager to dive into the latest cultural phenomenon. You can see my first column, a review of the movie Up in the Air, in an upcoming edition of the South Whidbey Record.

Within these online posts, I’ll be commentating on recent books, music and movies. Feel free to shoot me any remarks or questions in the comment section below, or at my email: rfankhauser5@gmail.com.