Newest articles and comments on The Sacramento Press written by Tony Sheppard

Tony Sheppard on "Ask Officer Michelle - Officers Using Cellphones While Driving"

2012-02-05T22:46:36Z

The fact that your car is like your office and you do this a lot makes it worse not better, and is a strong argument for police cars to be fitted with hands-free kits so that you don't need to use a hand to dial and hold the phone.

Film Review: Big Miracle

2012-02-03T07:41:41Z

Big Miracle
Directed by Ken Kwapis

One film this week has noteworthy political content and the most surprising thing is which film it is. From a casual distance, “Big Miracle” looks like a very generic animal rescue story, essentially “Free Willy” x2.5, as assorted people try to help two adults and one juvenile whale escape from behind an ice barrier in the Beaufort Sea. It’s based on a true story of an event that captured national attention in 1988, and the film makes use of news footage from that period, with every major network anchor commenting on the situation as it unfolds.

It also embellishes the story with various formulaic characters and circumstances, including a love story, a somewhat precocious local boy, and an evil “big oil” tycoon. The basic storytelling is no less unsubtle than the recent “The Muppets,” for example. However, what’s surprising, and where the movie manages to shine on some level, are the moments during which several of the major players’ motivations are explored.

It would have been very easy to show involvement from the White House as being a matter of national pride or jingoism, especially in a movie aimed mostly at kids, but it’s described as much more of a compromise of conflicting interests. This was the end of the Reagan administration and we’re given staff who want to send Reagan out with an episode that might help cover for a bad environmental record, while also boosting (the senior) Bush’s election chances, but only if it won’t go bad and cause an even larger stain on the legacy. Similarly, we’re shown conflicts involving the use of a Russian icebreaker ship (in reality there were two) and standoffs between the political interests and Greenpeace (as embodied by an activist played by Drew Barrymore).

Another episode depicts the oil company boss (Ted Danson) being manipulated by his wife into realizing that he can appear friendly to the environment in a way that will probably make it easier to rape it later. It’s a retrospective, narrative example of ‘greenwashing’ a company’s image at a point in time that’s almost as early as the phrase was coined.

This might actually be a good movie for kids, not just as predictable entertainment, but as a way of educating them about how the media and various political interests operate. We see rival television outlets and personalities more interested in ratings than the story, and clear conflicts between local and wider cultural perspectives, along with the other interests already outlined. The film also delivers little after-the-fact nuggets, like the quadrupling of Greenpeace's membership following the incident.

As a story, it offers relatively little that hasn’t been done multiple times before, although this time there might be a little nostalgia for those parents who remember the story. But as a surprisingly nuanced examination of questionable motives, especially for a children’s movie, it exceeds expectations.

Film Review: The Woman in Black

2012-02-03T07:36:20Z

The Woman in Black
Directed by James Watkins

Daniel Radcliffe has made nine theatrical movies in the last decade and eight of them have been episodes in the “Harry Potter” saga. So it’s hardly surprising that when he first appears onscreen in “The Woman in Black,” you find yourself expecting his Hogwarts sidekicks to show up, or a wand to appear in his hand (not helped by an early train journey). But that slight disorientation passes and he turns in a fairly solid performance as the young father who has been sent by his London firm to settle the paperwork of a dead woman who lived in a fabulously spooky house on the far side of a remote tidal causeway.

Outside of the “Potter” films, he’s proved himself to be a versatile performer, probably more lauded on stage than on the big screen, but also willing to throw himself into almost anything as demonstrated in a recent “Saturday Night Live” (including playing the part of Casey Anthony’s yorkie). In interviews, he has described “The Woman in Black” as simply being the best script he'd read at the time he chose to get involved. And it’s a very interesting project, not just for a prospective lead actor, his fans, and genre aficionados, but also for filmmakers and those who are intrigued by the way films are made.

This is a creepy film.

I’m not an easily scared person but there was no shortage of squeals and jumpiness among the audience at the press screening. Which is only to be expected from a film about disappearing children and a haunted house. But what’s noteworthy is how that level of creepiness is achieved. There are virtually no elaborate special effects – it’s almost exclusively an outcome of camera angles, makeup, and timing. This is a $17m production that, in the hands of a different production team could very easily have cost two or three times as much, without being any better at establishing an atmosphere. And that also makes it a good pick for Radcliffe, who gets to headline a film that doesn’t require him to stray far from his comfort zone, and which won’t need to measure success in hundreds of millions of dollars.

That’s not to say it doesn’t have any problems – it does. You can’t afford to think for more than a moment about almost any of the plot details. And much of the logic appears to have been sucked into the marshes on either side of that tidal causeway I mentioned earlier. It’s a brief film at 95 minutes and it doesn’t pause to explain very much: It’s not a complicated story but we’re never told how or why Radcliffe’s character decides what to do or, for example, why residents of the local village never seem to ponder the possibility of moving away despite it clearly being the worst possible location in which to raise a family.

But for the right audience, none of that will matter. It’s creepy and it stars Harry Potter…err, Daniel Radcliffe.

Tony Sheppard on "When things fall apart "

2012-01-30T19:30:33Z

The John Hancock Tower in Boston had to have all of its glass replaced (and it's entirely clad in glass) because of falling panels. Here's a wiki image of the building during the period in which glass was being replaced temporarily with plywood: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Plylwood_palace.jpg

Tony Sheppard on "A look back at the remnants following infamous UC Davis pepper-spray incident"

2012-01-30T19:21:10Z

The fact that the public, through a government entity, owns a building does not make it accessible at all times to the public or preclude it being illegal to enter it or stay in it. Try camping in the Oval Office.

"The Grey" - Part 2: Interview

2012-01-27T09:23:33Z

INTERVIEW: DIRECTOR JOE CARNAHAN AND ACTOR FRANK GRILLO

[NOTE: THE INTERVIEW CONTAINS SOME MILD PLOT SPOILERS FOR “THE GREY”.]

Recently, in San Francisco, I had a chance to chat with co-writer and director Joe Carnahan and actor Frank Grillo about their new release “The Grey” which opens this week. The film, which is reviewed in a separate article, tells the story of a group of oil workers whose plane crashes in the Alaskan wilderness, where they find themselves stalked by a pack of almost mythically large wolves. Joe is a Sacramento native and we’ve known each other for several years through the local film community and the Sacramento Film and Music Festival.

As we were setting up for the interview, Joe happened to make a self-deprecatory joke about his own intelligence, which led to an interesting opening:

Tony: You see I would counter that right away. I watched “The Grey” a few weeks ago - I don’t like to read production notes before seeing a film and I knew virtually nothing going in – but I knew it wasn’t going to be “Alive” meets “Cujo”… [they both agree] … because I don’t think you’re capable of writing a script that’s that one dimensional.

Joe: Right. You may hate it for its other dimensions but it won’t be mono-dimensional.

Frank: [laughs]

Tony: The other things you’ve written – even a film like “Smokin’ Aces” which is a ‘shoot-em-up’ has a very intricate story.

Joe: “Smokin’ Aces” to me, the construct, was Iraq. I based the movie on Iraq. It starts with misinformation, it leads to this kind of heedless violence, a bunch of people who shouldn’t die do, they make a better deal at the end, and it’s over – that’s it.

Tony: Let’s come back to the war topic later. As I said, I watched “The Grey” knowing nothing about it and had to write my comment for the studio, and I said this isn’t a film about men and wolves, this is a film about life and death, and going out on your own terms.

Joe: Yes. 100%.

Tony: So, I was intrigued as to whether when you read the short story if it came out of nowhere and grabbed you or if you were already thinking of this as a subject you wanted to tackle.

Joe: No, you know what Tony, I responded to the short story because I was on “Mission Impossible 3” and I was going to quit before I was fired. I had run my course on that and here I was presented with this very simple, spare, kind of bare bones survival story - versus where I was at that moment which was a big star, big franchise, big studio, with a big budget at 33 years old and feeling I didn’t deserve any of that….

Frank: No, by the way you do.

Joe: …at the same time “The A-Team” represents me finishing that business on “MI3” – doing a big popcorn movie. So it [“The Grey”] appealed to me in every way that it could, because its simplicity was beautiful to me. But then Ian [Ian Mackenzie Jeffers who co-wrote the screenplay and wrote the short story “The Ghost Walker” on which it is based] did a draft of his own short story and I took that, and over the next 4-5 years rewrote it, fashioned it, and fine-tuned it.

[Joe continued by describing how, with the passage of time, topics which might not have developed quite so readily in a more rushed circumstance, including religion and spirituality, evolved as the story became more polished.]

Tony: So, you guys met on “Pride and Glory” [for which Joe co-wrote the screenplay]?

Frank: A little before that.

Tony: [To Frank] When this first came to you, did you see the script first or was it still an idea? How close was it to the final script?

Frank: I think it was fairly close to what we actually shot by the time I saw it.

Joe: Yes, I gave it to you in September and we were shooting in January.

Frank: Yeah. He had seen some of “Warrior” and I had said to him “I want to work with you, just whatever it is, find me something, I’ll do anything – I’m a huge fan” and he sent me this script. He said to me “January we’re shooting this movie and that’s the role!” And he could have had anybody he wanted for the role, obviously, and he said “It might take me some time but you’re doing the movie – January – don’t take a job!” And I said “Joe, I can’t…” He said “January, don’t take a job! Go gain some weight, beef up, this is what we have to do.” And there we were in January.

Tony: Although underneath something like three parkas…

Joe: Yeah – I had three parkas on but Frank didn’t!

Frank: [laughs]

Joe: You said you wanted the role pal!

Tony: It’s such a neat story and neat characters. I was interested in what drew you to it. The Ottway part [Liam Neeson’s character] is interesting – he’s watched somebody who didn’t have the opportunity to go out on her own terms and he respects that opportunity when it arises. There’s a scene in the wreckage where a guy is dying and the others are saying “You’ve got to do something” and he goes over and says [paraphrased] “You’re going to die – but that’s OK” You don’t see that often.

Joe: No. You see a lot of people killed but you don’t see a lot of people die.

Frank: In the original script – and at first I was kind of upset that we took it out – but when he says that to him, my character says “What are you doing?” But there was such a rhythm, there was such a gorgeous poetic rhythm to the connection that these two guys had that if I had interjected, interrupted, and taken it away from that, it would have destroyed the scene. And that’s my favorite scene in the movie.

Tony: It reminds me - and I don’t think this is a comparison you’ll dislike [to Joe] given that you say you don’t see people die very often - it reminds me of Giovanni Ribisi in “Saving Private Ryan.”

Joe: Which is a brilliant death scene.

Tony: It’s the best scene of the movie.

Joe: And he says “Tell me, tell me what’s wrong” and the blood is almost black and he’s asking for his mother.

Tony: And he basically instructs them to overdose him on morphine. He’s a medic….

Joe: Right, he’s a medic, he knows he going to die. But that’s … anytime there’s a Spielberg comparison, I am firmly in your camp.

Frank: I got a chance to work with him and he said when he saw that scene he actually went back and wrote more for Giovanni earlier in the movie, so there would be more of him in the movie.

Joe: Oh, wow!

[The three of us then went off on a tangent for a minute or two about Giovanni Ribisi’s career starting as a child actor in the sitcom “My Two Dads.”]

Tony: In “the Grey” it seems to me that there were at least quadruple threats: There’s the location that they’re in, there’s the lack of any kind of supplies they would need to survive in that location, the climate obviously, and the wolves. But this isn’t about the wolves, the wolves are just part of that.

Joe: Tony, you see that – but you’re literally one of the only people that has ever said that, right there.

Tony: It’s an obstacle, of which part just happens to be the wolves. They could have just been eyes in the distance and mysteriously, every now and then somebody dies and you never know how they die. It’s almost a MacGuffin.

Joe: Right – they’re as close to a MacGuffin as a traditional film like this would have. Because essentially it’s a plotless movie.

Tony: In fact, to some extent, the whole bundle of obstacles: location, supplies, climate, wolves altogether are a MacGuffin.

Joe: Absolutely

Tony: It’s just there to cause these people to think about the meaning of life.

Frank: Exactly. That’s an accurate reading of the script. You asked what attracted me to the film. As a middle-aged man – this is what I think about all day.

Joe: And also that the wolves are just a force of nature – like the cliff, like the blizzard, like the river.

Tony: Have you been following the news – the timing is really interesting.

Joe: Oh – OR7 – the wolf that’s crossed into California. Yeah, I invited him to the premiere. It’s a very elaborate joke, a very elaborate stunt when he shows up and around his neck he’s got a little pass, a VIP pass.

Frank: It’s a great story

Tony: You clearly wanted something more profound than an action film and you succeeded. But do you worry about the apparent dichotomy between what films are and how films are marketed?

Joe: You know what, Tony, I don’t because what I would like, in fairness to an audience, this is something where I’d like them to cast as wide a net as possible – to get people who are even casual genre fans, who are casual Liam Neeson fans into the theater. Because I swear to God it will become the water cooler talk for days to come. I really believe that. What I’ve said about this film, my ultimate goal, is that it plays for you for longer than the two hours it took to watch. That’s what I want – because I think so much of movies today are just disposable experiences.

Tony: I guess my question is that we’re sitting here saying this is a profound movie about life and death and the human experience….

Joe: Right.

Tony: …so do you worry that the people who do in fact want to see a profound movie about life and death and the human experience are not going to come and watch “The Grey” based on the trailer somebody’s cut of the film that makes it look like “Alive” meets “Cujo”?

Joe: No. Unfortunately, if those people you just described were in the majority, we wouldn’t all be about to speak Mandarin in the next ten years. You know what I mean? If we had that level of engagement or that level of high mindedness, without trying to sound snobbish or arrogant about it, if those kinds of people were in the majority then I think it would be a radically different marketing angle.

Tony: If you think of film classics like 1936’s “Modern Times” or 1957’s “12 Angry Men” – those were mainstream films because you didn’t have studios, indies, direct to cable, and all those kinds of things, so those were films people were going to watch. They were deep films – but they were either social satires or social commentaries. We’ve had this conversation before – now you see things like “Lions for Lambs” [written by Joe’s brother Matthew Michael Carnahan] which is a brilliant piece of writing and “In the Valley of Elah,” and films like “The Company Men” about unemployment and layoffs. I’ve heard it said that folks on the left don’t want to go and see these stories and be reminded of what they already know and folks on the right don’t want to go and get lectured by Hollywood.

Joe: Yes.

Tony: So, do you think there’s a political divide – is it that we’re telling the wrong stories or are we telling the right stories but telling them too soon?

Joe: Well listen, you mentioned “Lions for Lambs” and “In the Valley of Elah” – those are movie about hot button issues. My brother had written “The Kingdom” which in a lot of ways to me was a knock on the Saudis and the Saudi royal family. It was meant to be, not a condemnation but he was certainly taking a shot – it wasn’t just this kind of prosaic look at a different culture – he was going after them. But if you don’t mix in gunfights it becomes this almost geopolitical…whatever. I found, and I got this from my benefactor Ridley [Scott] – I loved the filmmaking in “Black Hawk Down” but it became very jingoistic. And the part about the Somalis and what they were dealing with … and I understand why that was jettisoned. I get it, but it was also a case of looking at how much more money that made than a film like “Lions for Lambs” which was more about talking points.

Tony: If you get me on “Black Hawk Down” we’ll be here all day. But “The Kingdom” and “Lions for Lambs” are an interesting comparison because they’re both good scripts and they both have a lot to say politically….

Joe: Yes.

Tony: ...and I don’t remember the box office….

Joe: “The Kingdom” made a lot more money.

Tony: “The Kingdom” has a lot of shooting and action and “Lions for Lambs” is more like a play

Joe: Yeah, it’s a three act play. It’s a play.

Tony: So if you want to have political content and you want to get something out there and you want to hit a mainstream audience….

Joe: Good luck

Tony: …do you have to disguise it as something else?

Frank: I think you do.

Joe: Oh, absolutely.

Frank: You have to, not sneak it in, but you have to….

Joe: It’s everything short of sneaking it in. It’s very difficult to come straight at somebody with that kind of argument being that political, spiritual, whatever it may be that you’re trying to tackle. In this country more so than any other in the world – we love to slap labels on as quickly possible. And if you’re doing that it’s a “specialized” kind of film.

Tony: [To Frank] In the film, you’re the tough guy’s tough guy. It reminded me of this kid I knew at summer camp who was tough and would never let his guard down – and then I saw him break down completely riding a roller coaster.

Frank: That’s a great analogy.

Tony: Did you know those guys growing up or were you that guy?

Frank: I wasn’t that guy – I was on the other end of it. But I did know those guys and I also spent some time visiting some jails around New York because I wanted to talk to some guys on the other side of that reality. And they all seemed to be the same – you’re right – it’s the big bully who goes on the roller coaster and that was my jump off point. It’s such a cool journey that this guy makes and we all know those people. And how did I get to the point where my hands are always up and I’m threatened all the time. When you’re afraid you get angry and Diaz [his character in the film] is angry all the time. Why? Because he’s afraid all the time. And it was a gift to me as an actor to get to explore this character.

Tony: The amazing thing about “The Grey” is that I don’t think there’s a weak link in the film. The problem with an ensemble movie is that there’s often a character that you want to get eaten by a wolf early on in the movie just so that you don’t get to see him for the next hour. And this movie doesn’t have that.

Joe: I think you really do come to fall for those guys and you appreciate those guys and you pull for them. And that’s as it should be.

[At this point we discussed several characters and their unusual paths in the movie, including specific outcomes for some of them.]

Joe: But there’s bravery and heroism that isn’t always obvious and that you don’t see coming from a mile away

Frank: But we can talk about this all day – this guy [his character] finally got a chance to be part of something. That’s the beauty of it.

Joe: Yeah – absolutely man

Tony: What’s next for you Joe?

Joe: If I get any real run off the Grey, if it allows me to do something else, I’d like to put all those chips toward “Killing Pablo.” For me that particular project is like this vastly undernourished orphan and I need to get this kid a meal.

Tony: That’s Pablo Escobar?

Joe: Yes. I’ve been to Colombia three times, I’ve been to Medellin three times and I love it – as attrition goes it getting pretty close. Somebody asked me why do you want to make that project so badly and I was interviewing this 78 year old man who was there at the time it happened, and I asked him if he remembered anything that day, when they got Pablo. And he said “I was sitting in my house and I thought it was an early winter thunder storm” because the level of gunfire was such that the guy couldn’t discern individual shots and I thought “I’m ****ing making this movie!”

Tony: And anything back in Sacramento – are we going to see you back in town?

Joe: Tony if I could just get, and I’ve said this before – what you need is a full time film commissioner and we need to quit dicking around. And in that City which is one of the great untapped shooting locations – in two hours you can be in the snow, you can be on the river….

Tony: And the neighborhoods can be anywhere.

Joe: Dude, the Fabulous 40’s – all you have to do is switch the cars out and you could be in the 1950’s. I would love to do it. I think the City has to get a lot more aggressive about what it wants to do. You know Kevin Johnson kept the Kings – and that would not have happened with Heather Fargo, they would have been gone. So if he can apply that kind of determination to getting movies shot there….

Tony: You know the “For Arts Sake” manager just left, this week.

Joe: Really? Well you know I’m looking for a job!

Disclosure: The author is co-director of the Sacramento Film & Music Festival and Joe Carnahan is a former special guest of that event.

"The Grey" - Part 1: Review

2012-01-27T09:22:47Z

The Grey
Directed by Joe Carnahan

The promotional materials for “The Grey” would probably cause you to believe that this is a “Jaws”-like adventure, with sharks replaced by wolves. And that’s certainly an easy way to sell a movie – but the truth is somewhat more complicated and worthy of greater respect.

This isn’t just a movie about men and wolves, and the conflict between them after a plane of oil industry workers crashes in the Alaskan wilderness. Underneath that surface, it’s more about life and death and our ability to determine our own fate. Liam Neeson plays Ottway, a man whose job is to shoot wolves and remove other threats to the men who work in this desolate place. But he’s also a man with tragedy in his past and consequently empty eyes. When the plane goes down, it triggers in him the need to survive – not so much because he has things to live for, but because he isn’t willing to let anybody or anything else dictate his fate.

It’s an interesting and quite profound premise for what might otherwise seem like a shallow action adventure. But it’s also in keeping for co-writer and director (and Sacramentan) Joe Carnahan, who tends to favor stories that are more complex than they appear.

Some detractors have complained that the behavior of the wolves in “The Grey” is unrealistic, but this isn’t a nature documentary. And the wolves themselves are not the only complication in the men’s lives, existing as they do alongside the extreme cold, remote location, and lack of supplies that they're faced with. As such, the wolves are simply a part of a bundled obstacle, and no more or less a force of nature than the blizzards and low temperatures. They exist as a test within the context of the movie, increased to almost mythical size and actions. They're simply something to be overcome - and they might just as easily have been bears, ghouls, or invisible beings.

Within this premise are some of the best on-film encounters with death – not simply in the sense of the staged violent ends that we've come to expect from the action genre, but philosophical contemplations of what it means to recognize and sometimes accept death, even when it isn’t sought out. And these are genuinely thought-provoking moments: As Carnahan himself said during a recent interview, “...it will become the water cooler talk for days to come. I really believe that. My ultimate goal is that it plays for you for longer than the two hours it took to watch. That’s what I want – because I think so much of movies today are just disposable experiences.” And it succeeds.

The outcome is quite remarkable in that he’s made a film that can satisfy those who are simply looking for a solid roller coaster action adventure, but also those who like to ponder the deeper meaning of a film and the lessons it might evoke, over dinner afterwards, or the next day. It might even cure a dysfunctional family’s inability to choose a movie that appeals to both the parents and the teenagers.

Disclosure: The author is co-director of the Sacramento Film & Music Festival and Joe Carnahan is a former special guest of that event.

Tony Sheppard on "Redevelopment winds down, city must decide next step"

2012-01-26T20:15:37Z

That's not what Sheedy is quoted as saying with regard to layoffs - her quoted concern has to do with fairness in the layoff process, not with minimizing layoffs.

Tony Sheppard on "Sheedy won't run for re-election in council district 2 "

2012-01-25T06:55:48Z

I think this is an interesting question and not easily defined. Clearly there are decisions made on a regular basis that have enormous financial implications over decades, such as salary and benefits negotiations with employee unions - just as there are smaller and equally routine decisions having to do with one-time equipment purchases and short-term lease agreements. But I think the key characterization of what the City Council does on a regular basis is just that - the regularity of it. They are elected with every expectation from both the electors and the elected that decisions of this kind will have to be made - the normal and anticipated decisions that go with the normal and anticipated running of a City. But the counterpoint is the decision that is neither normal nor regular in nature. And I don't think anybody can reasonably suggest that the kind of decision that is involved with the possible leasing of City parking facilities for as many as 50 years is in any way normal or regular. And if Councilmember Sheedy believes that major decisions that are neither normal nor regular and that have multi-decade-long implications in revenue reduction for the City should be addressed in a non-normal and non-regular manner, then she should act on that belief. You may not agree with her, but it's not an especially unreasonable position for an elected official to take. I agree, there has to be a line somewhere. I'm not sure where that line might be but I'm not surprised or alarmed that a Councilmember thinks this is a decision that exists on the far side of it. I think it's actually quite reassuring that there isn't an assumption that anything goes once elected.

Tony Sheppard on "City Council begins 2012-13 budget process with workshop"

2012-01-25T05:52:43Z

So would that be a $25.5m shortfall if we gave up $9m in parking revenue?

Tony Sheppard on "Will leasing city garages ruin parking validation?"

2012-01-22T21:53:23Z

And we get these upbeat stories about the city suspending parking fees for a few days around the holidays to encourage downtown/midtown shopping - but a parking contractor doesn't have any great reason to do that. The city gains from the activity, a parking contractor doesn't.

Tony Sheppard on "10 Reasons Why a 50-Year Parking Agreement is Bad for Sacramento "

2012-01-22T21:51:33Z

Agreed - I think there's a good chance that ten years from now we could have a nice, shiny, empty arena and a parking contractor who's posting record profits from the highest parking rates Sacramento has ever seen. We're not going to get an arena that's at the top of the list of desirable venues for 50 years and we're not going to get a 50 contract from a sports team/league, so why would we give up something known for 50 years to get an unknown in return?

Tony Sheppard on "Will leasing city garages ruin parking validation?"

2012-01-21T22:14:21Z

Also, what's the lifespan of an arena? The current one is apparently woefully inadequate after 23 years of operation. So even IF one wanted some kind of mortgaged financing, a 20-25 year outlook would seem to make more sense than 50. And the problem with increased parking rates isn't just for visitors and attendees - employees park downtown also. That's a double whammy for stores and venues if their customers are less inclined to visit and their staff need to be paid more so they can afford to come to work. And taxpayers are paying the salaries of city and state workers, for whom increased parking costs would become a bargaining issue. This isn't a simple problem.

Tony Sheppard on "Will leasing city garages ruin parking validation?"

2012-01-20T23:49:12Z

That's great - if the downtown core's businesses and venues can be sustained exclusively by those within walking distance. They seem to be struggling on an ongoing basis even while doing business with people coming from further away - I simply worry about what might happen if that opportunity is compromised.

Tony Sheppard on "Will leasing city garages ruin parking validation?"

2012-01-20T23:46:12Z

“It doesn’t affect us at all,” Trumm said. “We’re covered under contract with the city (for parking validation) until about 2055.” Note that they're not really saying that it doesn't affect them, just that they are covered by their pre-existing, long-term contract. But it also worth noting that what seems like a long contract isn't as long as the proposed lease. And I have no idea if smaller retailers and venues (smaller than an entire mall) have contracts that go that far out. I'm not anti-arena or anti-Kings, but I do think we need all the pieces of the puzzle on the table.

Tony Sheppard on "Will leasing city garages ruin parking validation?"

2012-01-20T23:41:43Z

Sure - but the lightrail isn't. And for some people the lightrail is a far away as a downtown garage.

Tony Sheppard on "Will leasing city garages ruin parking validation?"

2012-01-20T23:40:05Z

Thanks for this Melissa and SacPress - nobody else is even looking at this kind of detail.

Tony Sheppard on "Why we are against SOPA"

2012-01-19T06:50:43Z

Almost all of those would get an answer that started "it depends,..." and then yield a very long response. This probably isn't the venue for it.

Tony Sheppard on "Why we are against SOPA"

2012-01-19T03:47:42Z

There are a great many people who have expertise in this area who have been tackling this problem for years - with some interesting and innovative approaches being tried and developed along the way, including some significant success stories here in Sacramento. And while it is true that it's possible to distribute content with low overhead, the overhead is in the film production and that upfront outlay still needs to get recouped. Whatever your model is, however low your distribution overhead is, free distribution of this kind of content still undermines the ability to recoup production costs (without even getting as far as profit). Frankly, many/most are failing already from a business perspective and any extra hurdle (whether it be lost sales or time spent fighting against copyright infringement that precludes that time being spent in further production or promotion) will cause others to fail.

Tony Sheppard on "Why we are against SOPA"

2012-01-19T02:37:21Z

As a film festival director, I work with true indie filmmakers, people whose work is likely to only be seen on the festival circuit and through very limited forms of distribution, including self-distribution. These folks don't have any margin of error in their business models, they don't have broad distribution on multiple platforms, and their work isn't always easy to find by legitimate purchasers. They also don't have vast catalogs of work, across which to spread their risk. if you spend three years of your life writing and making a feature film, and then you see it being made more readily available online on free sites than it even is on the limited pay sites you have the means to coordinate with, it's rightfully alarming and threatens your livelihood. I'm engaged in another online discussion with somebody who fits this description exactly - and he would lock doors and throw away keys. He would make the equally strong claim that piracy hurts his income on a daily basis, that SOPA might save it, and that SOPA couldn't hurt your business in practice - you are on diametrically opposite sides of the same issue and you're almost certainly both wrong. He also has horror stories about enforcing his own rights with online outlets. He has had to fight with youtube, for example, to have a feature film removed, only to end up with a message that says (paraphrased) "content removed because person x complained" - which makes him look like an ass - and without any comment about the fact that the user who originally posted it had no right to do so. And that's a legitimate, US-based outlet that's relatively responsive to complaints. It's virtually impossible to do anything to sites overseas that make content available online. The MPAA and RIAA can bring in armies of lawyers but the small, independent content creators simply don't have those resources. Protecting your content aggressively can end up stopping you from creating it as you simply have no time to do so, which also destroys your business model as you end up without content to sell. Enforceable laws are needed to protect intellectual property rights and creative content of all kinds - but SOPA is appallingly broad and, in my opinion, you are right to both fear it and campaign against it. As a festival director, I would be concerned about simple acts like linking to a filmmaker's online film trailer for fear of simultaneously linking to illegal content that might be carried on the same site - or the almost impossible to police risk that the filmmaker themself has included material they don't have rights to in their own work. The downside risks are suddenly alarmingly high, as you have suggested - in that we agree completely.

Tony Sheppard on "Why we are against SOPA"

2012-01-19T01:51:24Z

I think the basic points about doing more harm than good are well made. But I don't think you serve your own ends well by questioning the costs associated with piracy. Piracy can put small businesses out of business just as easily as this legislation could put you out of business, and it's not especially beneficial to simply pit one set of businesses against another. I agree with you about SOPA being bad for assorted reasons, but the "...problem that possibly doesn't exist..." type of comments just leave me with spinning eyeballs. As you mention, there are far more fundamental problems with the legislation, including the stifling of permitted activity in the process of targeting the non-permitted activity - it's a baby with the bathwater approach that also happens to toss in the bathtub, the bathroom, the house, the street,.... Current copyright laws and protection don't work and content creators need protections that do work - but SOPA is like ordering a drone attack with cluster bombs to take out a shoplifter.

Tony Sheppard on "Arena headlines State of Downtown discussion"

2012-01-18T20:00:57Z

Two separate articles/columns in the Bee today make it sound more like unconditional support for the idea - without mention of this qualifying sentence.

Tony Sheppard on "Arena headlines State of Downtown discussion"

2012-01-17T23:24:53Z

"If Sacramento uses the resources of private enterprises such as the Sacramento Kings and other corporations along with some public funds that do not impact the city’s general fund, Baer said, it can get support." He's probably right - but we haven't seen a proposal that doesn't impact the city's general fund. The parking lease would impact the city's general fund for as long as 50 years by removing that revenue.

Tony Sheppard on "Interview with Lizzy Silva, Psychic"

2012-01-15T07:30:58Z

It's not the purpose of a disclosure statement to tell readers that the person who posted the article is also the author - that's the default assumption. It would make more sense to tell readers if that wasn't the case - although there's no need for anybody to be posting anybody else's work. The more relevant disclosure in this case would be to explain your position with HPI and your connection to the people involved in the interview. Also, in the body of the text, you shouldn't be throwing around acronyms without introducing what they stand for the first time they appear - you have no reason to expect anybody to know what they mean.

Tony Sheppard on "California's new wine country: Sacramento"

2012-01-13T22:13:43Z

Wine Tourism is taught at Sac State.

Tony Sheppard on "Hyatt Regency Sacramento Completes Multi-Year, Multi-Million Dollar Renovation"

2012-01-10T23:55:09Z

It's a neat renovation and a nice hotel with great staff. But this is a poorly written article with much repetition. For example, the sentence "Historically, the travel and tourism industry has proven to be resilient." probably doesn't need to appear twice - nor do you need to tell me the hotel has over 500 rooms when you've just said it has 503. I hope this isn't your press release copy.

Tony Sheppard on "Astral Projecting from Prison to See his Son"

2012-01-09T11:02:12Z

Are we now disguising established authors?

Tony Sheppard on "Solving the Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy Puzzle"

2012-01-05T23:09:12Z

I didn't think the script was quite that opaque - but it's certainly less spoonfed than most of what we see these days - not a good film during which to take a bathroom break. And Smiley isn't brought back into the Circus to run the investigation ;)

Tony Sheppard on "ARTS MEAN BUSINESS"

2012-01-04T23:42:58Z

So not a farm, or a sports arena, or a car factory, or a ...

Tony Sheppard on "A Ghostly Text Message"

2012-01-04T02:22:28Z

"We had taped this section off, as to keep folks closer to the stage for the Q&A that followed the short film. So, no one was sitting up there during the film." I sat up there for the screening - although I didn't type any ghostly messages to the best of my conscious recollection.

Tony Sheppard on "January 1: New Year, new laws in effect in California"

2012-01-03T08:30:26Z

is this being re-posted? i feel like i've read it before

Tony Sheppard on "New 'To Catch an Error' contest starts today!"

2012-01-02T00:32:50Z

There should be extra points for finding errors in the story about the competition to find errors.

Tony Sheppard on "Council agrees to seek lessee for city parking operations"

2011-12-15T06:23:19Z

Great - so we're possibly going to promote one specific business and location at the possible risk of dozens of others that have been struggling to keep themselves and downtown alive for years. If people think that places like the Downtown Plaza are dead now - wait until people have to pay to park there to buy the same stuff they can get with free parking at Arden Fair.

Tony Sheppard on "City parking should not be leased out: tell Council to say no"

2011-12-14T20:13:31Z

If we're talking simple economics, then one has to assume that a private business is only going to bid for the parking concession if they think it's worth more over time than they will pay for it. otherwise why the hell would they do it? Even if the City wanted to tap this revenue stream (which is still a huge if), it would make more sense to borrow against it and use it to service the debt than to arrange in advance for a significant portion of that revenue stream to be skimmed of by an outside entity in the form of profit. The only way that the City could possibly yield as much in advance as it would over time, would be for the outside business to offer full value based on current/projected rates that the City would charge for 50 years, and then increase them at a higher rate in order to produce the necessary profit to both service their own debt on the advance payment and also make a profit on the back end. Anybody feel confident predicting parking rates and occupancy 50 years in advance?

Tony Sheppard on "Council agrees to seek lessee for city parking operations"

2011-12-14T10:04:51Z

Did anybody at the meeting address what would happen to parking validations for downtown businesses, venues, restaurants, events?

Tony Sheppard on "City parking should not be leased out: tell Council to say no"

2011-12-14T05:45:57Z

The City already has the ability to host large conventions - the limitation in that regard has tended to be centralized hotel space. So unless the arena plan includes an extra1,000+ hotel rooms....

Tony Sheppard on "Commute interrupted, vehicle crashes into downtown business"

2011-12-13T19:40:26Z

"Patino"

Tony Sheppard on "City parking should not be leased out: tell Council to say no"

2011-12-13T19:05:59Z

The component that seems to be missing in any article or set of questions on this topic is what happens to the current practice of validating (providing free or reduced cost parking) at local stores, restaurants, venues, and events? We're told a new arena will bring new vitality and revenue to downtown (although much is money that would be spent elsewhere otherwise) and better events. But we also have local businesses, multiple arts festivals, the Downtown Plaza, etc. that rely on the validation program that the City operates, with the City also benefiting from the economic activity in its downtown core. In addition to the lost revenue factor, any plan needs to address how a contracted parking operator would handle validations and/or how to compensate local enterprises if it is discontinued. Otherwise, we're championing one local business at the potential expense of dozens of others.

Tony Sheppard on "MidLife GridLife - Cougar Daze"

2011-12-11T21:49:21Z

If somebody finds you interesting and attractive and you dismiss that person based purely on their age, favoring instead a completely blind date with an older person who might not share those opinions, then I think the joke's on you.

Tony Sheppard on "Johnson: People are ready to talk about strong mayor initiative"

2011-11-24T06:24:07Z

"But hey, why let the facts get in the way of your rage?" Did I miss the rage?

Tony Sheppard on "Johnson: People are ready to talk about strong mayor initiative"

2011-11-24T03:12:36Z

The first time I recall reading about the idea was in an editorial in Sactown Magazine - that was before I had heard about it out of City Hall.

Tony Sheppard on "City offers 15th year of free holiday parking program to attract downtown shoppers"

2011-11-22T09:26:06Z

Yet another example of why we won't gain by selling or leasing our parking concessions.

Tony Sheppard on "The influence of Yelp on Sacramento restaurants "

2011-11-22T02:33:09Z

"After that the real key is reading reviews of like minded people." How do you decide who is like minded, versus somebody who sounds like minded but who may be a paid reviewer?

Tony Sheppard on "Power Balance files for bankruptcy"

2011-11-21T21:17:15Z

This is the least surprising development in the whole arena saga.

Tony Sheppard on "The influence of Yelp on Sacramento restaurants "

2011-11-21T19:42:51Z

But there's another complaint that has been made that Yelp tends to be suspicious (for that reason) of people who register and immediately say great things about a business - even to the point of removing those comments - while not being suspicious of immediate negative comments. Which is very one-sided. It's not unreasonable to think that a great experience at a business might prompt somebody to join Yelp and it's not against the spirit of independent reviews for a business owner to encourage happy/regular patrons to post nice things about their establishment. The cynicism directed towards the new user making a highly positive comment has another potential effect: It's actually easier/more reliable for a business owner to register (or hire stooges to register) and make negative comments about competitors than to make positive comments about their own business. So any tendency on Yelp's part to remove positive comments they think are insincere doesn't solve the insincerity problem, it's just likely to make it more negative than positive.

Tony Sheppard on "The influence of Yelp on Sacramento restaurants "

2011-11-21T09:04:48Z

Oddly, that rant essentially captures the opinion of a small business owner who was discussing Yelp recently. I'm not suggesting they are related and if anything the comment here is a little tamer.

Tony Sheppard on "Community Reacts to Prop 8 Decision"

2011-11-21T00:02:22Z

Why would you? It didn't fail for lack of standing, it failed in Federal court for conflicting with Federal control of immigration law - it wouldn't have mattered who brought the appeal.

Tony Sheppard on "Cars on K St - This Saturday"

2011-11-11T02:21:24Z

Marc - the City currently gets the parking revenue to use in whatever manner it chooses and, on occasion, it allows free parking to promote an event or a venue. Obviously, that marginally reduces the revenue but the payoff is in promoting the downtown area and helping encourage people to attend downtown events which, in turn, generates more spending downtown. If the City sells the parking garages or leases them for a fixed fee, it gains a lump sum payment from the new operator but it also loses the ongoing revenue from the garages/meters. The operator is only going to enter into such a deal if they can make a profit and the only way they make a profit is to either pay the City the same amount it currently receives in revenues and then increase the fees, or maintain the same fees and pay the City less than they currently collect (or some compromise between the two). The City may gain that lump sum that could be applied towards a project, but it loses the ongoing revenue stream - so it's not found money, it's just money being collected at a different moment in time. If the money is spent on a particular project, then the City also has to make up the new shortfall in general income from the lost revenue stream. In other words, it hasn't actually helped financially - in practice all it means is that the City has borrowed from its future self - and it's still going to have to pay itself back by making up that shortfall. In the meantime, the City loses the control and the discretion to support the local events and venues by offering free or subsidized parking. That could damage multiple arts events and festivals as well as eliminate the revenue stream - which seems like a lose/lose. People seem to be thinking in terms of selling or leasing the parking garages/spaces as though it's an infusion of one-time free cash - like a sudden, surprise bonus at work. But it's not like that at all - it's more like having your employer come along and offer a one-time bonus in return for accepting a lower salary from now on. That's great for people who take the bonus and then quit - but it's not as good for employees who expect to stick around. And those of us who are going to stick around Sacramento might get a new facility of some kind but we're going to have to live with reduced revenues from lost parking income for years to come. The only way to come out ahead in the long run is to be absolutely certain that somehow that new facility is going to generate more from increased local spending than the parking garages would ever have generated. But those other smaller local arts events, venues and festivals still stand to suffer and if they disappear they're also detracting from spending downtown. And, coincidentally, just as people are suggesting using such a deal to finance an arena, with math that relies on a stable basketball income and high attendance figures, we're watching an NBA lockout and seeing other cities with financed arenas threatening to sue teams and/or the league because their basketball revenue is suddenly non-existent. If the arena makes sense, it should do so without gimmicks like selling off future parking revenue and risking damage to existing community organizations, events, venues, and festivals.

Tony Sheppard on "Cars on K St - This Saturday"

2011-11-10T06:27:12Z

And the City is offering free parking at the 10th and L garage - a good example of why the City should own and operate its own garages and be able to support local community and arts events with free parking and/or validations.

We're #10

2011-11-05T06:29:48Z

The Forbes magazine list of dirtiest cities, with respect to air polution, is out and Sacramento is #10, with 6 other CA cities in the top 10.

Here's the list with comments taken directly from the source material (including an unfortunately worded remark about San Diego) - more details can be found here.

#10 Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Yuba City, CA-NV

A little better than Bakersfield and Fresno, but Sacramento still suffers stagnant air stuck in the San Joaquin Valley.

#9 San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA

There's no dirty coal plants here, and you'd think the ocean breeze would keep the air clean, but San Diego has a big port and busy highways that lead to and from Mexico.

#8 Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ

Heat plus cars equals ozone. Epic dust storms also regularly engulf Phoenix.

#7 Birmingham-Hoover-Cullman, AL

Pollution levels have improved a lot, but Birmingham suffers from being located in a valley that tends to trap stagnant summer air. Two interstate highways don't help either.

#6 Modesto, CA

Home to E&J Gallo Winery, which also operates the largest wine bottle manufacturing plant in the world.

#5 Pittsburgh-New Castle, PA

This old steel town is a new boom town for natural gas drilling, and downwind of coal-fired power plants in Ohio and West Virigina.

#4 Fresno-Madera, CA

San Joaquin Valley air might be getting better; last August, for the first time in recorded history, Fresno had no days with unhealthy ozone levels.

#3 Visalia-Porterville, CA

Proximity to the giant trees of Sequoia National Park isn't enough to clean Visalia's smoggy San Joaquin Valley air.

#2 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, CA

Millions of cars, a huge port in Long Beach, busy airports -- at least L.A.'s smog is better than it used to be.

#1 Bakersfield-Delano, CA

Hot, dusty and surrounded by California's biggest oil fields, Bakersfield has all the ingredients for the worst air in the nation.

Disclosure: Armchair journalism at its laziest.

Tony Sheppard on "An incomplete timeline of the events surrounding Sandy Sheedy's arena poll "

2011-11-04T02:22:45Z

While I might agree with the general sentiment, I don't agree with the last sentence. A polling company is acting on behalf of somebody who pays them to conduct a poll - the content of the poll questions/responses does not belong to the polling company nor is it theirs to disclose. The disclosure, if it comes, should come from whoever paid them to conduct the poll and who owns the resultant data.

Tony Sheppard on "An incomplete timeline of the events surrounding Sandy Sheedy's arena poll "

2011-11-03T19:22:32Z

"November 2, 1:24 p.m.: The Sacramento Press publishes another article saying that the FPPC will not investigate the claims in the Langdon complaint." According to that SacPress story, they didn't just say they wouldn't investigate (which might imply insufficient cause or a flawed complaint), they went on to say that what Sheedy had done was OK: "The letter from Winuk addressed the specific areas of concern in the complaint of misuse of official position and lack of disclosure regarding the use of campaign funds. “The use of campaign funds to conduct a poll is an appropriate use of campaign funds,” the letter stated. “Additionally, since the telephone calls were not for the purpose of advocating a candidate or ballot measure, no identification by the Sheedy campaign was required.”" Which actually sounds like a very brief "investigation" and dismissal of the complaint.

Tony Sheppard on "Inside Sacramento's Supreme Pro Wrestling: I Want to Be a Wrestler When I Grow Up"

2011-11-02T08:27:15Z

Is there a reason why these other authors don't post their own stories?

Tony Sheppard on "Sheedy faces allegations of wrongdoing with recent poll"

2011-11-02T07:09:50Z

Yes - it sounds like a complaint alleging a lack of full disclosure that doesn't, itself, seem to have any disclosure whatsoever. Perhaps we need to rewrite the old saying about people living in glass houses not throwing stones to one about people living in mirrored houses not pointing fingers.

Tony Sheppard on "Sheedy faces allegations of wrongdoing with recent poll"

2011-11-01T20:02:23Z

I wouldn't want to be the one who has to argue in favor of a funding formula based on reliable basketball income while the league's in lockout mode and other cities are considering suing the league for lost revenue.

Tony Sheppard on "Sheedy faces allegations of wrongdoing with recent poll"

2011-11-01T04:37:13Z

she was also asking the public their opinion - and the public aren't "any member, officer, employee or consultant of the agency." And where the complaint apparently alleges it was a "push poll" and the article defines that, there doesn't seem to be anything in the article that supports that there was any "push" in terms of information dissemination. If she's required to say who paid for the poll and didn't say so, then that's an error and a very simple issue and, in the scope of political wrongdoing probably worthy of a "Don't do it again!"

Tony Sheppard on "SHRA to expand program to buy, rehab and resell foreclosed properties"

2011-10-26T21:39:18Z

Why does it have to be a "SHORT" turn-around time - why can't a prospective homeowner buy the building and do the work themself over a period of time, perhaps while living in the house? If a developer does it first, unless they do it out of the goodness of their hearts for no financial gain, the end result is that the home is more expensive. The developers gain and so do homeowners looking for turn-key homes at higher prices. Again, one could invite developers in at a discount, along with anybody else with the means to fix the property, if it fails to sell during an initial period. But the policy presumes that the property can't be sold as-is and that somebody who hasn't jumped through hoops to be labeled a "developer" can't solve the problem. Some of the worst properties might be better addressed by simply demolishing them and some are so cheap that an investor might simply want to own the vacant lot, with it no longer being an eyesore or a risk to the public, for a future sale. And having it taken off the market in the meantime also reduces excess inventory. If a home can't be sold on the open market, then get creative. But don't assume it can't be sold without even trying.

Tony Sheppard on "SHRA to expand program to buy, rehab and resell foreclosed properties"

2011-10-26T08:52:39Z

I can see the benefit in rehabbing a derelict home that doesn't sell on the open market, and even permitting a discount or financial incentive for that benefit. But why give developers an advance chance at such properties before even attempting to sell them to a homeowner? Why not let potential homeowners have a crack at some of the distressed buildings and distressed prices? And if they don't receive any offers within 30 days (or whatever number seems reasonable) then discount them and make them available to whomever might want to buy them, developers included, but with specific requirements to qualify for the benefits. This seems to benefit developers more than anybody else - at some point if somebody doesn't move in, then the boarded up ugly house is just a boarded up pretty house still in search of a homeowner.

Tony Sheppard on "Is your America destroying congressional or senatorial power, Sacramento?"

2011-10-23T04:04:27Z

I can't decide if we're supposed to try and figure it out in return for a prize - or if it's actually some kind of elaborate parody of the English language, intended for a performance art reading.

Tony Sheppard on "MidLife GridLife - Trends With Benefits"

2011-10-21T19:59:18Z

The car insurance analogy is bad as car insurance doesn't cover the outcome of not having your oil changed, whereas medical insurance does cover the outcomes of problems not discovered during routine checkups. But the fact that we still get our oil changed on a regular basis demonstrates that we understand the concept of preventative care - most of us actually take better care of our cars than we do our bodies in that regard. We don't wait for our engines to seize up, but we do wait for our hearts and joints to seize up. Preventative care makes sense and is cheaper in the long run, or else we wouldn't have oil change businesses in existence - it simply seems to get ignored by the US medical establishment. And so we have emergency rooms engaging in profound interventions costing tens of thousands of dollars because we don't make it easy to access a brief consultation and five dollars worth of generic anti-biotics.

Tony Sheppard on "Local historian Burg appointed to Sacramento Heritage board"

2011-10-18T05:36:38Z

Excellent choice

Tony Sheppard on "Free documentary showing, "Mother: Caring for 7 Billion""

2011-10-08T22:15:23Z

"U.S. Americans have not only the third largest national population behind China and India, but we also have the highest population growth rate of any country in the developed world, which means a higher consumption rate per capita." Yes to both of those facts - but they are somewhat limited in usefulness without also noting that the US is #179 in population density.

Tony Sheppard on "Why did Manufacturers almost certainly stop offering computer shows at the Scottish Rite Center?"

2011-10-01T21:42:25Z

Was this a class paper written 15 years ago? At least two of the companies (that were retailers not wholesalers) cited for their high stock prices are out of business and have zero stock value.

Tony Sheppard on "Why did Manufacturers almost certainly stop offering computer shows at the Scottish Rite Center?"

2011-10-01T21:10:51Z

I can't tell if these articles are the product of a random word generator.

Tony Sheppard on "Ten Local Films - Sunday 1:00 PM Crest Theater - 12th "A Place Called Sacramento Film Festival"

2011-09-27T09:26:45Z

This has been a mainstay of the film arts community in Sacramento for 12 years and where a lot of local filmmakers got their start. If you've ever wondered if you could make a film, come and check this out - because most of these filmmakers were in that same place, wondering the same thing, a year or three ago. Two years ago, in our respective tenth seasons, we were proud to give Ron Cooper our Film Arts Service Award and the rest of Sacramento should celebrate Ron and "A Place Called Sacramento" also! Tony Sheppard, Co-Director, Sacramento Film & Music Festival :)

Tony Sheppard on "City Council to vote on $550,000 in consultant fees for arena financing "

2011-09-27T07:41:12Z

I'm not sure it's such a great idea to have the financing assessed by a group already involved/familiar with the project - it seems like the point is to bring in some objective eyes (?).

Slow news day

2011-09-25T07:15:51Z

But you can always count on craigslist for a chuckle.

Nothing else to see here, move along....

Tony Sheppard on "Pastors remain on task, city council hopefuls interviewed"

2011-09-23T22:24:09Z

At the point that you get paid by others for your calling, it's a profession - whether you're preaching, painting, teaching, acting....

Tony Sheppard on "Pastors remain on task, city council hopefuls interviewed"

2011-09-23T21:49:37Z

I don't think your last point is either accurate or fair. Speaking about one politician's perceived wrong actions and speaking about another politician's perceived right actions are, generally, the same thing as they tend to be two sides of the same coin. And it isn't that somebody is stripping a group of their rights, it's that as a group members of the clergy and their churches agree in advance to behave a certain way in return for a very special set of tax benefits that most of us don't receive. It's a known tradeoff that they willingly undertake. So when I see a group of people who are identified not as citizens but repeatedly (almost twenty times in a single article, including the title of that article) as pastors interviewing potential candidates and targeting other sitting politicians, as opposed to speaking purely on issues, I don't think it's unfair to question their actions in the context of the agreement they voluntarily undertook. I would think the same thing regardless of whether or not I agreed with who they did or didn't like - that to me is entirely irrelevant. If I was campaign manager for Candidate X and they stood up in their professional capacity and campaigned for Candidate X, I would still be concerned and question that action because it would still violate their contract with the IRS (essentially with all of the rest of us as taxpayers). The rest of us have said, you can have these tax benefits, but only if you behave within a certain set of narrowly defined parameters. It has nothing to do with picking sides, it's the underlying principle that I'm addressing.

Tony Sheppard on "NBA cancels 43 preseason games, postpones training camps"

2011-09-23T21:34:40Z

So we might still have a team and yet not actually have a team that plays.

Tony Sheppard on "Pastors remain on task, city council hopefuls interviewed"

2011-09-23T19:30:59Z

And who will rescue you from your "snaps, snarls and bites?" The high horse suits neither you nor your role.

Tony Sheppard on "Pastors remain on task, city council hopefuls interviewed"

2011-09-23T19:28:15Z

I agree that pastors can act as citizens on their own time and that pastors (who also happen to be citizens, assuming they are) are citizens too with the rights of citizens. But this isn't a group that is referred to as citizens who also happen to be pastors in their day jobs. This is a group that is specifically referred to as pastors - i.e, being identified primarily by their church-related role. The title introduces them that way, as do seven photo captions, and at least ten uses of the word in the body of the text (plus two in your own disclaimer). Meanwhile I don't see them ever described as citizens or concerned citizens. And they are interviewing/screening potential political candidates because they don't like existing politicians. That's activity defined by candidate(s) not activity defined by an issue or cause. If we had heard about this group of "concerned citizens" undertaking this activity and only after x articles on their actions did we happen to find out, by chance, that they were all pastors, it would be quite different in both tone and context, and most likely also in perceived legality or appropriateness. But that's not the case. And as for the wonderfully charitably finger-pointing Pastor Fogle, the reason I'm not registered to vote is because I'm not eligible to vote. I have lived in this country for over 20 years and in Sacramento for 14, I'm an active and concerned member of the community - as much as you are, I have paid taxes "religiously' throughout my time here (a lot of taxes), I serve in multiple unpaid capacities for the City, but I am not a US citizen and so I am not permitted to vote. I do, however, believe that I have more than earned my right to voice my opinion on matters such as this, aside from having my own right to speech. And the right to vote in this country, for citizens, is a right to vote not a requirement to vote. So even citizens who, for whatever personal set of reasons choose not to vote or to register to vote, have the same rights as you do to speak on these matters. You may choose not to listen to them, for valid reasons or not, just as they may choose to listen to or to ignore you. Similarly, non-citizens, including legal residents such as myself, have a right to speech even if we are disenfranchised at the voting booth.

Tony Sheppard on "Pastors remain on task, city council hopefuls interviewed"

2011-09-23T07:06:00Z

How does that represent accountability? Unless I'm running around berating people for not registering to vote, and/or basing some kind of campaign on the need to register to vote, that has no bearing on anything. Let me answer your direct, entirely irrelevant, inaccurately characterized, and at least borderline rude question by saying no. And I'll let you ponder the reason why not.

Tony Sheppard on "Pastors remain on task, city council hopefuls interviewed"

2011-09-23T06:07:48Z

Are all these pastors, who are engaged in this overt political activity, also renouncing their churches' tax exempt statuses?

Tony Sheppard on "City Council rejects possibility of a fifth cardroom license"

2011-09-21T07:19:44Z

Well at least they won't be arguing about whose district it should be in.

Tony Sheppard on "Singer Carly DuHain does it her way"

2011-09-16T20:05:37Z

she one of our "go to" singer/songwriters at the sacramento film & music festival :)

Tony Sheppard on "K Street work well under way"

2011-09-16T08:17:56Z

fresh & easy

Tony Sheppard on "DWB: Redistricting and election 2012 "

2011-09-14T05:24:57Z

"Six council-members effectively railroaded what was supposed to be a democratic process right under everyone's noses... and this is okay?" Excuse me - but that IS the democratic process. You may not like the outcome and if you vote against these councilmembers or encourage others to do so, that will also be the democratic process. Like it or not, a vote of 6-3 in an elected, representative body is democracy at work.

Tony Sheppard on "DWB: Redistricting and election 2012 "

2011-09-13T07:34:52Z

This seemed like a manufactured crisis of emotions rather than substance - our own debt ceiling crisis perhaps. It's not like the Med Center was lifted up by a crane and moved across town - it's still in the same place and will still affect the communities adjacent to it in the same way(s). The same people will work there and they will still live, shop, park, and spend time and money in the same places. And if your city councilmember just lost a chunk of territory, they still have the same vote on the council and may actually be easier to get a hold of, with attention now focused more directly on a smaller area with fewer distractions. That seems appealing rather than catastrophically bad. Let somebody else worry about balancing those special interests with the interests of their ordinary residents, criticize them if they do it badly, and move on.

Tony Sheppard on "Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market breaks ground in Oak Park"

2011-09-01T08:47:02Z

In looking at their site - I started to wonder if the higher count included the planned locations as well as the open locations.

Tony Sheppard on "Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market breaks ground in Oak Park"

2011-09-01T07:48:49Z

Fresh & Easy based in California? Yes, technically, but they're a subsidiary of Tesco, an English company and the second most profitable retailer in the world after Wal-Mart. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Also, according to wikipedia (accuracy?) the current number of Fresh & Easy stores is 177 - 128 in CA, 28 around Phoenix, AZ, and 21 around Las Vegas, NV. (It's hard to tell from the company site what the correct number is without counting flags on a map.)

Tony Sheppard on "Ask Officer Michelle - Buying Used Police Cars and Impounds"

2011-08-28T21:57:29Z

It works both ways - they're driven harder than most vehicles but also maintained better - and they tend to start out with heavy duty systems (electrical, cooling, etc) that are designed to take such usage. Also, they're often sold simply because of rules about specific mileages being reached, not because of any problems they have.

Tony Sheppard on "Hot Italian temporarily a car showroom?"

2011-08-27T04:54:12Z

It's good to see somebody thinking collaboratively - not just Hot Italian (and Andrea is great in that regard) but also the folks at FIAT of Sacramento: They sponsored the Sac Film & Music Fest last week and we had a car parked outside the Crest Theatre for almost a week - which is a great location for visibility downtown.

Tony Sheppard on "Too many taxis in the city?"

2011-08-23T08:01:22Z

It certainly looks like we have too many when the article is accompanied by a photo of a New York street scene - why not a picture of Sacramento?

Hollywood to Dollywood ... to Sacramento!

2011-08-20T16:01:17Z

The Saturday lineup at the 12th annual Sacramento Film & Music Festival includes 28 films spread over 14 hours of programming, the Sacramento Bee Fashion Challenge results, and a live performance by alumni-musician Stephan Nance. The films include a full length musical about a reluctant monster, 16 films from some of the best student filmmakers in the world, and several short films from Sacramento-based filmmakers. And at 7pm, the Festival hosts "Hollywood to Dollywood" and filmmakers Gary and Larry Lane. This is the fourth festival of 21 who currently have scheduled screenings of this highly sought after independent documentary and the brothers are in town for approximately 12 hours before flying on to their next screening, tomorrow in San Diego.

The film documents a journey, both metaphorical and literal, in which the gay twin brothers write a screenplay for their idol Dolly Parton and then drive across country in a rented RV named "Jolene" to deliver the script to Dolly, in person, on the 25th anniversary of the opening of Dollywood. Along the way, they get writing advice from Academy Award winner Dustin Lance Black ("Milk") and actor/producer Chad Allen, share the stories of their lives and the lives of those they encounter on the road, and battle severe weather that threatens the road trip. All in the hope that they can get close enough to Dolly to hand over their work and be noticed by their heroine. The film also includes 17 songs by Dolly Parton herself.

"Hollywood to Dollywood" screens at 7pm at the historic Crest Theatre and will be followed by a Q&A session with the directors and stars of the film, Gary and Larry Lane.

The full Festival schedule can be found here. Passes and tickets for the remainder of the Festival's eight screenings can be purchased online at tickets.com or at the Crest box office.

Disclosure: Tony Sheppard is Co-Director of the Sacramento Film & Music Festival.

Mediation and conflict resolution featured at the Crest Theatre

2011-08-19T19:42:47Z

The third night of the 12 annual Sacramento Film & Music Festival brings a solid lineup of three narrative feature films to the Crest historic main screen. The first of these, "Face to Face," is an Australian drama that can only be seen at film festivals and which isn't even scheduled to open theatrically in Australia until next month.

"Face to Face" is reminiscent of the classic film "12 Angry Men," with the action moved from a jury room to a mediation session. Ten people and a mediator meet to discuss an employment dispute, but it soon becomes apparent that there is far more at stake and more shared history than one young man's rash actions. The screenplay was adapted from a stage play that was originally written based on actual transcripts of mediation sessions and the result is both powerful and genuine in the relationships and interpersonal dynamics in the room.

"Face to Face" is followed by the dark romantic comedy "Stan" and the horror film "The Corridor." The Festival recommends the later films for adult audiences only. Trailers and synopses for all three films can be found by selecting film titles on the Festival's schedule page here.

The Festival continues at the Crest through Sunday.

Disclosure: Tony Sheppard is Co-Director of the Sacramento Film & Music Festival.

"Beautiful Youth" premiere draws a crowd at the Crest

2011-08-19T08:07:20Z

Just a week ago, the Sacramento Press reported on a local documentary about youth homelessness and on Thursday, "Beautiful Youth" screened for a packed house as part of the Sacramento Film & Music Festival SummerFEST. The Festival contacted the filmmakers as a result of that article and, given only a week of lead time, the size of the audience was both noteworthy and a testament to the interest in the topic. The film itself has a running time of 47 minutes and was followed by a Q&A session with filmmakers Jennifer Lystrup and Mackenzie Long which lasted equally long. Even more remarkable, almost the entire audience stayed throughout the post-screening discussion and asked questions of both the directors and several of the individuals who were interviewed during the making of the film.

The Sacramento Film & Music Festival continues through Sunday evening. Friday evening's lineup consists of three narrative feature films: "Face to Face," "Stan," and "The Corridor" at 7pm, 9pm, and 11pm respectively.

The full Festival schedule can be found here.

Disclosure: Tony Sheppard is Co-Director of the Sacramento Film & Music Festival.

French Film Fest Director to be honored as Film & Music Fest Opens Tonight

2011-08-17T18:22:05Z

The 12th annual Sacramento Film and Music Festival opens its SummerFEST program tonight by honoring another long time Festival director. This year's Film Arts Service Award will be presented to Cecile Mouette Downs, director of the Sacramento French Film Festival. Cecille has worked previously for the Film Department of the French Embassy in New York City, and as a Press Officer for the Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel in Paris. She has a master’s degree in history, is a regular contributor to “France Today” magazine, and was the 2010 recipient of the Arts Executive of the Year Award from the Sacramento Arts & Business Council.

This is the fifth Film Arts Service Award to be presented. The first went to Shawn Sullivan, who teaches animation at Sheldon High School and has a remarkable record of placing students in competitive college and industry positions. Subsequent recipients have included: Bill Bronston, CEO of Tower of Youth which showcases and advocates for youth filmmaking; Ron Cooper, Executive Director of Access Sacramento and the "A Place Called Sacramento" screenwriting competition and filmmaking program; and Sid Garcia-Heberger, Managing Partner of the Crest Theatre, co-founder and co-director of the Sacramento Jewish Film Festival, and a Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commissioner. As last year's recipient of the Award, Sid Garcia-Heberger will present this year's Award to Cecile Mouette Downs.

Additionally, this year's opening night features the runway portion of the Sacramento Bee Fashion Challenge. The Bee partnered with the Festival to give local designers the challenge of creating a red carpet worthy outfit from newspaper and no more than $50 worth of additional materials. Winners will be announced on Saturday, August 20th at 6pm.

Tonight's opening night feature film is a documentary about Japanese-American animator and film director ("When the Wind Blows") Jimmy Murakami, who spent part of his childhood with his family at the Tule Lake internment camp in Northern California. "Jimmy Murakami - Non Alien" shows the continuing effects this experience has had on his life and explains his discomfort in living in America. This film is an interesting counterpart to the final feature documentary that will play on Sunday, August 21st. "Fordson: Faith, Fasting, Football" explores the American Muslim experience, as seen through the eyes of the football team at Fordson High School in Dearborn, Michigan - a public high school that is 98% of Arab descent and overwhelmingly muslim. 2011 is the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the 10th anniversary of the attacks of 9/11 and these two films remind us of the impacts of how we collectively treat people who look like, but who aren't, our enemies.

The Sacramento Film & Music Festival SummerFEST opens tonight at 6pm, with a reception catered by District 30 and Pizza Rock, and runs through Sunday. 65 films represent 13 countries, including 23 from this year's 10x10 Filmmaker Challenge - in which local filmmakers are given 10 days to make a 10 minute film. The program also includes an exclusive screening of "Beautiful Youth" at 6pm on Thursday, a film about homeless youth in Sacramento and which has been written about previously in the Sacramento Press. The full schedule and more information, including film trailers can be found online at sacfilm.com. All screenings take place at the historic Crest Theatre.

Disclosure: Tony Sheppard is Co-Director of the Sacramento Film & Music Festival.

Tony Sheppard on "Local teacher makes documentary on youth homelessness"

2011-08-15T08:20:53Z

If we have enough of a response, we'll play it a second time at 8pm that same evening :)

Sac Film & Music Fest - Programming Notes

2011-08-14T22:28:29Z

Programming a film festival is an odd and varied process. Some events go out and pro-actively seek the best films that they can find, in an extensive search process – and we see this approach in such local great events as the Sacramento Jewish, French, Japanese, and Gay and Lesbian Film Fests. Other events are submission-based: A call for films is distributed, and filmmakers from a given area submit their works in the hopes of making it to the top of the pile. This latter approach, perhaps best exemplified on a grand scale by the Sundance Film Festival, is also used (on a more modest level) by the Sacramento Film & Music Festival and that given area is the entire world.

This year, films were submitted from almost 30 countries and in just about every conceivable format or genre. Which means that picking through them is an interesting task – one moment you’re watching a cute music video featuring animated vegetables and the next, you’re watching a feature length psychological thriller. The goal is to find the best and fit them into an appealing program that audiences will want to see. However, the problem with a submission-based Festival is that you never know what you’re going to get. Last year, for example, we had a full program of animated short films, whereas this year we have only one animated film within a program of student shorts. And films are often grouped more by general category than by subject matter – so you get narrative short films, international short films, etc. – rather than programs defined by comedy, or drama.

So, at the end of the process, it’s interesting when you sometimes find that you’ve chosen films that seem to follow a common theme. This year’s program includes three feature length documentaries, each of which stood out from the crowd and were selected on their own merits. Only later did we realize that they shared the theme of being “different” in America.

The first of these, “Jimmy Murakami – Non-Alien,” recounts one of the worst times to be different in American history. Jimmy Murakami was born in California and probably would have had a fairly ordinary American childhood had he not been Japanese-American and born in 1933. At the age of eight, he was transported with his family to the Tule Lake internment camp, and spent the next four years there, learning to resent his own government. After the war the family moved to Los Angeles and Jimmy eventually went to art school and became an animator, going on to great success in the film industry and directing such films as “The Snowman,” “When the Wind Blows,” and “A Christmas Carol.” But he never felt comfortable in the country that imprisoned him as a child and never fully came to terms with that experience. The film shares his experience, after 40 years of living in Ireland, of his trip back to California and a pilgrimage to Tule Lake.

In “Hollywood to Dollywood,” twin gay brothers from Tennessee escape their childhood home (for all the reasons you might expect) and move to Los Angeles. There, they spend five years writing a screenplay for their idol Dolly Parton – only to head back across country in a rented RV in the hopes of handing that screenplay to Dolly on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of her theme park, Dollywood. The film contains interesting commentary on the process of writing, including contributions from actor Chad Allen and Academy Award winning writer Dustin Lance Black (“Milk”), shares the adventure of the open road, and includes multiple personal stories of exclusion and coming out.

The last of the three, “Fordson: Faith, Fasting, Football,” focuses on a community on the west side of Dearborn, Michigan. Here, after decades of immigration, the local population has changed so much that Fordson High School is now 98% of Arab descent, and overwhelmingly Muslim. But their other defining characteristic is their love of football, with boys following older brothers, fathers and uncles onto the high school squad. The film follows the team over a period of ten days, considering the question of what it means to be Muslim in a post-9/11 America through personal stories, as they prepare for their big cross-town game with Dearborn High. This is complicated by Ramadan, and a month of afternoon practices and evening games following days of fasting.

Each of the three films is a fascinating depiction of a specific experience but, taken as a whole, they are a compelling account of what it means to fit in, or not fit in, in America. They are three out of 42 films, representing 13 countries (we lost half the countries in the selection process), programmed into 13 unique screenings at this summer’s Festival – including locally made short films and student films, and the Festival’s 10x10 Filmmaker Challenge which will include another 25 films (that’s a guess – they haven’t been finished yet…) made in just 10 days, in and around Sacramento.

Each of the 12 screenings costs $10, but you can buy passes (at the Crest Box Office) for all 13 screenings for only $30 if you mention Sacramento Press, or for the low, low price of $20 if you’re a student.

The Sacramento Film & Music Festival continues its 12th season with SummerFEST is at the historic Crest Theatre in downtown Sacramento, from Wednesday, August 17th to Sunday, August 21st. The full schedule, including trailers for all three films described here, can be found at www.sacfilm.com and you can follow further developments at facebook.com/sacfilm.

Disclosure: Tony Sheppard is Co-Director of the Sacramento Film & Music Festival.

Tony Sheppard on "Graham-A-Rama's Excellent Production of "In Trousers" Being Reprised at Cosmopolitan Cabaret"

2011-08-13T10:20:08Z

Crazy amount of talent in that room :)

Tony Sheppard on "Buddhist Festival embrace 1940's Japantown "

2011-08-12T18:41:43Z

Different guy, similar names - both were at Tule Lake. To add to the confusion, Jimmy Murakami's own brother goes by the name of James Murakami - they were sent to different classrooms at the camp and both told to choose an English name, and one chose Jimmy and one chose James. They also both work in the film industry: Where Jimmy is an animator and film director, James has been an art director (including "Apocalypse Now") and is now a production designer working with Clint Eastwood. Jimmy Mirikitani is an artist and the focus of "The Cats of Mirikitani."

Tony Sheppard on "Buddhist Festival embrace 1940's Japantown "

2011-08-12T08:57:04Z

Coincidentally, on Wednesday, August 17th at 8pm, the Sacramento Film & Music Festival will open with a screening of "Jimmy Murakami - Non Alien." Jimmy spent four years, with his family, in Tule Lake internment camp. He later went to art school and became an animator and filmmaker, directing amongst other titles, "When the Wind Blows." He has lived for over 40 years in Ireland, having never felt at home in the US after internment, and the film follows him as he travels back to the US and joins one of the Tule Lake pilgrimages. For more information on the film and the trailer, visit: sacfilm.com/nonalien.html

Tony Sheppard on "City Council approves salary contract for new city manager"

2011-08-11T07:12:38Z

Actually, it would cost more as it would also include Cobra health insurance premiums. Meanwhile. when you take into account the difference in the pension contributions, the increase in salary costs over the old position is more like 10.5% rather than 16%.

Tony Sheppard on "City Council chooses surprise new redistricting map"

2011-08-11T01:56:26Z

Ben's point is well made - if you think it's in an incumbent's best interest anyway, why attribute it to unions? You might as well say that incumbent council members eat lunch everyday because of the unions - and then, when questioned, draw dots between the fact fact that they eat lunch and the fact that they get union contributions. When it's probably fair to assume they would eat anyway.

Tony Sheppard on "City Council approves salary contract for new city manager"

2011-08-10T18:41:38Z

The paragraph about the $13k "net savings" is unclear and also transposes two numbers from the staff report. [The City would normally have paid about 18k to PERS (instead, he will pay his own contribution) and would normally have paid about10k to a 401a (instead they will pay 15k in deferred compensation). So the "net savings" are 18k+10k-15k=13k (approx figures).]

Tony Sheppard on "City Council chooses surprise new redistricting map"

2011-08-10T18:29:45Z

How did you reach that conclusion?

Tony Sheppard on "Council passes two-year taxi permit moratorium"

2011-08-09T00:08:44Z

The cynic in me suspects the rates are probably because so many rides are connected to the legislature with people who aren't very price sensitive - and one way or another, we're probably paying for them.

Tony Sheppard on "Local teacher makes documentary on youth homelessness"

2011-08-08T19:45:10Z

If anybody knows Jennifer, please have her contact me about a possible benefit screening: tony@csus.edu

Tony Sheppard on "Proposed McDonald's draws criticism from some community members"

2011-08-06T05:25:04Z

Playing devil's advocate: Let's accept that much of what McD's sells isn't the greatest, most nutritious food - but in a depressed neighborhood, where there probably isn't a Trader Joe's on every corner, McD's might also represent the cheapest source for salads without, as Michelle Obama might say, having to ride three city buses to buy lettuce. Also, for parents struggling to afford the cost of their children's medical care across the street (for example), and perhaps with other young children in tow, it does represent a very affordable place to eat out - whether everybody else enjoys it or not.