The Apes are Slowly Making Their Move Towards World Domination

Dawn of the Planet of Apes is the second episode in a new series of prequels to 1968's classic Planet of the Apes. 

Much like after 2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes (I saw both of these new ones with Dan), it is still not apparent how these will connect with the original, in which humans annihilate themselves with a nuclear bomb.

In that respect, nothing much happens in the evolutionary course of events with this 3-D movie. It's a transitional piece. 

Caesar was raised a decade ago by a scientist (played by James Franco). He is now leader of the apes in Muir Woods. A plague has since wiped out 499 of every 500 humans, but a few hundred are living in a tower in downtown San Francisco.

When some of them venture into the woods as a last-ditch effort to fix a dam that would provide them with enough energy to survive, the humans and the apes rekindle a relationship that has a bunch of miscommunications that could have resulted in eternal peace but instead ends ominously for what lies ahead when the next prequel is released.

The apes are stunning and, if I had to cheer for a side, it wouldn't be the dumb humans. Barring Charleton Heston in the first couple of original films, humans have never really been the interesting ones in Ape movies. They are particularly unworthy of cheering for in this one. All unlikeable and clueless, even stars Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman (usually entirely reliable), and Keri Russell seem to sleepwalk in the shadow of Andy Serkis, who again plays Caesar with endless heart worthy of Oscar consideration.

I also really miss the music of the original series, which was so creepy in a late 1960s kind of way. (Although the song that comes on at the gas station when the power starts working again does work pretty well.)

The stage is set. The next in this series should be a doozie, and I would say the humans are in big trouble.

**** out of ***** stars

Tips for Effective Transportation Blogging

Here's an article By Paul Goddin from Mobility Lab that nicely quotes me at the end.

This article was also published by Greater Greater Washington.

Begin with your most important point. Use short sentences and clear, non-jargony language. Remember your end goal.

These were among the tips BeyondDC creator and Greater Greater Washington  (GGW) blogger Dan Malouff imparted at this week’s Lunch at the Lab. Malouff discussed effective blogging and how to get published by websites such as GGW and Mobility Lab.

Among his main points:

• Put the most important information up front, in the first paragraph, with more specific details and supportive facts following. The glut of information and competition demands clarity and incisiveness.
•  “Lead with the takeaway,” Malouff said.
• Inform before you persuade. The best articles use a piece of news or data as a starting point, and then use it to draw conclusions or make an argument. It’s important to explain the context, as readers are not all experts already.
• Transportation and city planners (not to mention lawyers) like to use jargony language. Blog readers respond better to simple language. Complicated, wordy prose can make an otherwise compelling article unreadable and/or suspicious. Use the rule that easier-to-read is better.
• Don’t use the passive voice much if at all. If you can insert “by zombies” after the verb, then you are using it. For example, the sentence “The use of passive voice is discouraged” is easy to identify as passive voice since one could add “by zombies” to its end and the sentence would still make sense. Instead, the sentence should read “Don’t use the passive voice.” (Avoid nominalizations, like “the utilization of this grammatical construction leads to complication of the communication,” too.)
• Keep articles short. A thousand words is typically too long. The “sweet spot” for web writing is 300 to 600 words.
• Keep the blog post to one main idea. If you want readers to remember more than one big takeaway, then split the article up into multiple posts.
• Mobility Lab Communications Director Paul Mackie facilitated the lecture. He called blogging an inherently democratizing medium. He said that institutions such as the New York Times are no longer the gatekeepers of information. Anyone with a keyboard now has a voice. Mackie described blogging as a way to “become a thought leader.”

(Author’s note: This article is 374 words long and, therefore, perfect.)

Anchorman 2 Sucker Punches Ratings-Inspired Cable News Coverage

I’m glad I skipped Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues when it was released several months ago. Letting the overwhelming hype and crass over-commercialization die down gave me more reasonable expectations.

Of course I heard that it received very mixed reviews, and several people have flat-out told me not to watch it. But in the end, I’m a sucker for Ron Burgundy and his brand of wacked-out humor.

The biggest problem I have with the movie is its slow start. The worse choice by the filmmakers was to make it so unfunny for so long. I counted to the 17-minute mark before laughing, which happens when Paul Rudd enters as a cat photographer.

Rudd actually doesn’t garner many laughs after that. Steve Carell plays, for me, the most consistently funny role as Brick the off-the-wall weatherman. His relationship with similarly nuts Kristen Wiig is endearing, his “pre-funeral” is kind of creative, and his laughing fit in the RV as the gang gets reacquainted on their way to big new cable-TV jobs in New York is equally laugh-out-loud for the viewer.

The worst parts of the movie are when it drifts into Spoils of Babylon-like family drama. It’s no coincidence that those first 17 minutes are heavy with Christina Applegate, who has no chemistry with Will Ferrell as his newscaster wife. Every star in the universe appears in the climatic news-personality fight scene, which again doesn’t work that well.

However, most of the main characters are likeable enough to spend a couple hours of your life with. The social commentary on the rise of ratings-at-all-costs media is insightful. And the 70s yacht-rock soundtrack (from Christopher Cross to John Waite to Kenny Loggins and much more) makes Anchorman 2 a slice of media pleasure.

*** out of ***** stars

Take a Bikeshare Ride This Fourth of July, Let Freedom Ring

I took a bikeshare ride in Boston on Sunday and, with Americans feeling less free these days, it makes me sad to know that one solution that is so obvious and simple is sitting right in front of our eyes.

The one thing that struck me above all else as I wheeled along the cobbled streets of South Boston, comforting breeze in my hair, was how free I felt. I was able to take a two-and-a-half-hour tour on Hubway, Boston’s excellent bikeshare system, for a total of $6. In the old days, it would have easily cost $30 or so to take a bike tour of any city.

Before I left, I printed a map of sites to see on bikeable roads. I loaded the Hubway app on my iPhone, which I especially love because a compass arrow appears that points you to the nearest bikeshare station, of which there are plenty in Boston. And I took out five different bikes over 150 minutes in order to keep each bike rented for less than 30 minutes, thus avoiding any extra fees.

There is clearly no better way to experience a city, and in a way so equitably for all. You could barely see any sites in that timeframe riding in a car. And you wouldn’t see nearly as many if you walked.

Having never been to Boston before, it was heartening to see a city truly in love with bicycles. Lots of bike lanes. Hubway. Clearly tons of infrastructure geared to cyclists in Cambridge around Harvard University. Dozens and dozens of bikes parked at the Beacon Hill Whole Foods and various other bustling spots throughout the area.

The route I took would be ideal for any bicycle tourist. I started between Faneuil Hall and the Inner Harbor, went up through the North End Italian district, to the beautiful greenways along the Charles River, around Fenway Park, past the brownstones of South Boston on Rutland and Concorde squares and the SW Corridor Path, and ending near Boston Common.

Gratuitous photo of my baby daughter next to Larry Bird's shoes.

Nothing against the many Duck tours that circle through the city loaded with tourists, but there is something distinctly “unfree” about being stuck on those tours – fun as they may be, from a different perspective.

Yes, if there’s one thing Americans can do this Fourth of July to reclaim our freedom, it’s hop on a bike … or a bikeshare.