NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 31: Jeff Housenbold, Ruth Housenbold, Ashley Montulli, Rusty Szurek, Emily Hoffmann Szurek, Dwayne Black, Tammy Black, Brian Regan, Peter Navin, John Boris, Gretchen Sloan and Nicole Stier attend Heidi Klum's Halloween presented by Shutterfly at Marquee on October 31, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images for Shutterfly)
Saturday, 2 November 2013
PHOTOS: Heidi Klum's 14th Annual Halloween Party - 9NEWS.com
NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 31: Jeff Housenbold, Ruth Housenbold, Ashley Montulli, Rusty Szurek, Emily Hoffmann Szurek, Dwayne Black, Tammy Black, Brian Regan, Peter Navin, John Boris, Gretchen Sloan and Nicole Stier attend Heidi Klum's Halloween presented by Shutterfly at Marquee on October 31, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images for Shutterfly)
PHOTOS: Heidi Klum's 14th Annual Halloween Party - 9NEWS.com
NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 31: Jeff Housenbold, Ruth Housenbold, Ashley Montulli, Rusty Szurek, Emily Hoffmann Szurek, Dwayne Black, Tammy Black, Brian Regan, Peter Navin, John Boris, Gretchen Sloan and Nicole Stier attend Heidi Klum's Halloween presented by Shutterfly at Marquee on October 31, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images for Shutterfly)
Daylight Saving Time 2013: When Does It End? And Why? - National Geographic
With an extra hour of sleep and an earlier sunset, daylight saving time (also called daylight savings time) ends this weekend.
That means clock confusion is once again ticking away, giving rise to hotly debated questions: Why do we spring forward and fall back? Does daylight saving time (DST) really save energy? Is it bad for your health? Here are some answers from the experts.
When Will Daylight Saving Time End in 2013?
For most Americans daylight saving time will end with a "fall back" to standard time on Sunday, November 3, at 2 a.m. Most states "sprang forward" an hour to begin DST on Sunday, March 10. (Read about the start of 2013 daylight saving time.)
But the federal government doesn't require U.S. states or territories to observe daylight saving time, which is why residents of Arizona (except for residents of the Navajo Indian Reservation), Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Marianas Islands won't need to change their clocks this weekend.
Around the world the observance of DST remains very much a mixed bag. In Russia, which abolished daylight saving time in 2011, dark mornings are so unpopular that a coalition in the nation's Duma have proposed legislation to reinstate the practice by the end of this year.
Meanwhile in Japan, which hasn't observed DST in over 60 years, some politicians suggest a return could help ease the nation's post-Fukushima energy crunch.
Brazil seems to split the difference. While only parts of the sprawling nation observe daylight saving time, those regions include major cities like Brasilia, Sao Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro. Brazil's electric utility estimates that DST saves some U.S. $200 million a year, largely by easing urban power demand on hot summer days.
Where it is observed, DST has been known to cause problems.
National surveys by Rasmussen Reports, for example, show that 83 percent of respondents knew when to move their clocks ahead in spring 2010. Twenty-seven percent, though, admitted they'd been an hour early or late at least once in their lives because they hadn't changed their clocks correctly.
So why do we use daylight saving time in the first place?
How and When Did Daylight Saving Time Start?
Ben Franklin—of "early to bed and early to rise" fame—was apparently the first person to suggest the concept of daylight saving time, according to computer scientist David Prerau, author of the book Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time.
While serving as U.S. ambassador to France in Paris, Franklin wrote of being awakened at 6 a.m. and realizing, to his surprise, that the sun rose far earlier than he usually did. Imagine the resources that might be saved if he and others rose before noon and burned less midnight oil, Franklin, tongue half in cheek, wrote to a newspaper.
"Franklin seriously realized it would be beneficial to make better use of daylight, but he didn't really know how to implement it," Prerau said.
It wasn't until World War I that daylight savings were realized on a grand scale. Germany was the first state to adopt the time changes, to reduce artificial lighting and thereby save coal for the war effort. Friends and foes soon followed suit.
In the U.S. a federal law standardized the yearly start and end of daylight saving time in 1918—for the states that chose to observe it.
During World War II the U.S. made daylight saving time mandatory for the whole country, as a way to save wartime resources. Between February 9, 1942, and September 30, 1945, the government took it a step further. During this period DST was observed year-round, essentially making it the new standard time, if only for a few years.
Since the end of World War II, though, daylight saving time has always been optional for U.S. states. But its beginning and end have shifted—and occasionally disappeared.
During the 1973-74 Arab oil embargo, the U.S. once again extended daylight saving time through the winter, resulting in a one percent decrease in the country's electrical load, according to federal studies cited by Prerau.
Thirty years later the Energy Policy Act of 2005 was enacted, mandating a controversial month-long extension of daylight saving time, starting in 2007.
But does daylight saving time really save any energy?
Daylight Saving Time: Energy Saver or Just Time Sink?
In recent years several studies have suggested that daylight saving time doesn't actually save energy—and might even result in a net loss.
Environmental economist Hendrik Wolff, of the University of Washington, co-authored a paper that studied Australian power-use data when parts of the country extended daylight saving time for the 2000 Sydney Olympics and other parts did not. The researchers found that the practice reduced lighting and electricity consumption in the evening but increased energy use in the now-dark mornings—wiping out the evening gains.
Likewise, Matthew Kotchen, an environmental economist at Yale, saw in Indiana a situation ripe for study.
Prior to 2006 only 15 of the state's 92 counties observed daylight saving time. So when the whole state adopted DST, it became possible to compare before-and-after energy use. While use of artificial lights dropped, increased air-conditioning use more than offset any energy gains, according to the daylight saving time research Kotchen led for the National Bureau of Economic Research in 2008.
That's because the extra hour that daylight saving time adds in the evening is a hotter hour. "So if people get home an hour earlier in a warmer house, they turn on their air conditioning," the University of Washington's Wolff said in 2011.
In fact, Hoosier consumers paid more on their electric bills than before they made the annual switch to daylight saving time, the study found. (Related: "Extended Daylight Saving Time Not an Energy Saver?")
But other studies do show energy gains.
In an October 2008 report to Congress, mandated by the same 2005 energy act that extended daylight saving time, the U.S. Department of Energy asserted that springing forward does save energy.
Extended daylight saving time saved 1.3 terawatt hours of electricity. That figure suggests that the practice reduces annual U.S. electricity consumption by 0.03 percent and overall energy consumption by 0.02 percent.
While those percentages seem small, they could represent significant savings because of the nation's enormous total energy use.
What's more, savings in some regions are apparently greater than in others.
California, for instance, appears to benefit most from daylight saving time—perhaps because its relatively mild weather encourages people to stay outdoors later. The Energy Department report found that DST resulted in an energy savings of one percent daily in the state.
But Wolff, one of many scholars who contributed to the federal report, suggested that the numbers were subject to statistical variability and shouldn't be taken as hard facts.
And DST's energy gains in the U.S. largely depend on your location in relation to the Mason-Dixon Line, Wolff said.
"The North might be a slight winner because the North doesn't have as much air conditioning," he said. "But the South is a definite loser in terms of energy consumption. The South has more energy consumption under daylight saving."
(See in-depth energy coverage from National Geographic News.)
Daylight Saving Time: Healthy or Harmful?
For decades advocates of daylight saving time have argued that, energy savings or no, the practice boosts health by encouraging active lifestyles—a claim Wolff and colleagues have put to the test.
"In a nationwide American time-use study, we're clearly seeing that, at the time of daylight saving time extension in the spring, television watching is substantially reduced and outdoor behaviors like jogging, walking, or going to the park are substantially increased," Wolff said. "That's remarkable, because of course the total amount of daylight in a given day is the same."
But others warn of ill effects.
Till Roenneberg, a chronobiologist at Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany, said in 2010 his studies show that our circadian body clocks—set by light and darkness—never adjust to gaining an "extra" hour of sunlight at the end of the day during daylight saving time.
"The consequence of that is that the majority of the population has drastically decreased productivity, decreased quality of life, increasing susceptibility to illness, and is just plain tired," Roenneberg said.
One reason so many people in the developed world are chronically overtired, he said, is that they suffer from "social jet lag." In other words, their optimal circadian sleep periods are out of whack with their actual sleep schedules.
Shifting daylight from morning to evening only increases this lag, he said.
"Light doesn't do the same things to the body in the morning and the evening. More light in the morning would advance the body clock, and that would be good. But more light in the evening would even further delay the body clock."
Other research hints at even more serious health risks.
A 2008 study in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded that, at least in Sweden, the risk of having heart attack goes up in the days just after the spring time change. "The most likely explanation to our findings are disturbed sleep and disruption of biological rhythms," lead author Imre Janszky, of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, said in 2010. (Related: "Leap Year: How the World Makes Up for Lost Time.")
Daylight Savings Lovers, Haters
With verdicts on the benefits and costs of daylight saving time so split, it may be no surprise that the yearly time changes inspire polarized reactions.
In the U.K., for instance, the Lighter Later movement—part of 10:10, a group that advocates cutting carbon emissions—argues for a sort of extreme daylight saving time. First, they say, move standard time forward an hour; then keep observing DST as usual, adding two hours of evening daylight to what we currently consider standard time.
The folks behind StandardTime.com, on the other hand, want to abolish daylight saving time altogether. Calling energy-efficiency claims "unproven," they write: "If we are saving energy let's go year round with Daylight Saving Time. If we are not saving energy let's drop Daylight Saving Time!"
But don't most people enjoy that extra evening sun every summer? Even that remains in doubt.
National telephone surveys by Rasmussen Reports from spring 2010 and fall 2009 deliver the same answer. Most people just "don't think the time change is worth the hassle." Forty-seven percent agreed with that statement, while only 40 percent disagreed.
Seize the Daylight author Prerau said his own research on daylight saving time suggests most people are fond of it.
"I think the first day of daylight saving time is really like the first day of spring for a lot of people," Prerau said. "It's the first time that they have some time after work to make use of the springtime weather.
"I think if you ask most people if they enjoy having an extra hour of daylight in the evening eight months a year, the response would be pretty positive."
Philippines All Saint's Day Celebrations Commence (PHOTOS) - Huffington Post
All Saint's Day Celebrated In The Philippines
MARIKINA CITY, PHILIPPINES - NOVEMBER 01: People visit a public cemetery for All Saint's Day November 1, 2013 in Marikina City, Philippines. As the largest Catholic nation in Asia this public holiday allows Filipinos to visit the family cemeteries for overnight and weekend vigils. They bring candles and flowers and pay respects to departed loved ones. Offices and schools close as the usually silent graveyards become a party with food and music. (Photo by Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images)
All Saint's Day Celebrated In The Philippines
MARIKINA CITY, PHILIPPINES - NOVEMBER 01: People visit a public cemetery for All Saint's Day November 1, 2013 in Marikina City, Philippines. As the largest Catholic nation in Asia this public holiday allows Filipinos to visit the family cemeteries for overnight and weekend vigils. They bring candles and flowers and pay respects to departed loved ones. Offices and schools close as the usually silent graveyards become a party with food and music. (Photo by Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images)
All Saint's Day Celebrated In The Philippines
MARIKINA CITY, PHILIPPINES - NOVEMBER 01: People visit a public cemetery for All Saint's Day November 1, 2013 in Marikina City, Philippines. As the largest Catholic nation in Asia this public holiday allows Filipinos to visit the family cemeteries for overnight and weekend vigils. They bring candles and flowers and pay respects to departed loved ones. Offices and schools close as the usually silent graveyards become a party with food and music. (Photo by Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images)
All Saint's Day Celebrated In The Philippines
MARIKINA CITY, PHILIPPINES People visit the tombstones at a public cemetery for All Saint's Day November 1, 2013 in Marikina City, Philippines. As the largest Catholic nation in Asia this public holiday allows Filipinos to visit the family cemeteries for overnight and weekend vigils. They bring candles and flowers and pay respects to departed loved ones. Offices and schools close as the usually silent graveyards become a party with food and music. (Photo by Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images)
All Saint's Day Celebrated In The Philippines
MARIKINA CITY, PHILIPPINES - NOVEMBER 01: A girl lights candles on the crypt of a loved one at a public cemetery for All Saint's Day November 1, 2013 in Marikina City, Philippines. As the largest Catholic nation in Asia this public holiday allows Filipinos to visit the family cemeteries for overnight and weekend vigils. They bring candles and flowers and pay respects to departed loved ones. Offices and schools close as the usually silent graveyards become a party with food and music. (Photo by Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images)
All Saint's Day Celebrated In The Philippines
MARIKINA CITY, PHILIPPINES A man places candles on the crypt of a loved one at a public cemetery as All Saint's Day is celebrated on November 1, 2013 in Marikina City, Philippines. As the largest Catholic nation in Asia this public holiday allows Filipinos to visit the family cemeteries for overnight and weekend vigils. They bring candles and flowers and pay respects to departed loved ones. Offices and schools close as the usually silent graveyards become a party with food and music. (Photo by Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images)
All Saint's Day Celebrated In The Philippines
MARIKINA CITY, PHILIPPINES Filipino families flock to a public cemetery as All Saint's Day is celebrated on November 1, 2013 in Marikina City, Philippines. As the largest Catholic nation in Asia this public holiday allows Filipinos to visit the family cemeteries for overnight and weekend vigils. They bring candles and flowers and pay respects to departed loved ones. Offices and schools close as the usually silent graveyards become a party with food and music. (Photo by Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images)
All Saint's Day Celebrated In The Philippines
MARIKINA CITY, PHILIPPINES - NOVEMBER 01: People visit a public cemetery for All Saint's Day November 1, 2013 in Marikina City, Philippines. As the largest Catholic nation in Asia this public holiday allows Filipinos to visit the family cemeteries for overnight and weekend vigils. They bring candles and flowers and pay respects to departed loved ones. Offices and schools close as the usually silent graveyards become a party with food and music. (Photo by Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images)
PHILIPPINES-RELIGION-TRADITION-DEAD
A relative lights candles at the tomb stone of a departed love one in Manila on November 1, 2013. Millions across the Catholic Philippines trooped to cemeteries to honour their dead in typically festive fashion on All Saints' Day Friday, ignoring appeals from the Church to keep the day solemn. AFP PHOTO / Jay DIRECTO (Photo credit should read JAY DIRECTO/AFP/Getty Images)
All Saint's Day Celebrated In The Philippines
MARIKINA CITY, PHILIPPINES A woman reaches out to a crypt at a public cemetery as All Saint's Day is celebrated on November 1, 2013 in Marikina City, Philippines. As the largest Catholic nation in Asia this public holiday allows Filipinos to visit the family cemeteries for overnight and weekend vigils. They bring candles and flowers and pay respects to departed loved ones. Offices and schools close as the usually silent graveyards become a party with food and music. (Photo by Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images)
PHILIPPINES-RELIGION-TRADITION-DEAD
Relatives light candles at the tomb stone of their departed love ones in Manila on November 1, 2013. Millions across the Catholic Philippines trooped to cemeteries to honour their dead in typically festive fashion on All Saints' Day Friday, ignoring appeals from the Church to keep the day solemn. AFP PHOTO / Jay DIRECTO (Photo credit should read JAY DIRECTO/AFP/Getty Images)
All Saint's Day Celebrated In The Philippines
MANILA, PHILIPPINES - OCTOBER 31: Families light candles and clean the crypt at a public cemetery ahead of All Saints' Day on October 31, 2013 in Manila, Philippines. As the largest Catholic nation in Asia this public holiday allows Filipinos to visit the family cemeteries for overnight and weekend vigils. They bring candles and flowers and pay respects to departed loved ones. Offices and schools close as the usually silent graveyards become a party with food and music. (Photo by Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images)
A boy hops from a cluster of crypts to another which are spruced up for the observance of All Saints' Day at a public cemetery at Paranaque city, south of Manila, Philippines Thursday Oct. 31, 2013. Traditionally, Christians visit cemeteries and memorial parks to offer prayers every Nov. 1 to pay tribute to their departed loved ones. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
Filipino boys play basketball at an improvised court hooked on multi-layered tombs at a public cemetery in Navotas, north of Manila, Philippines on Thursday Oct. 31, 2013. Filipinos are expected to flock to cemeteries on Nov. 1 to remember their dead as they observe All Saints Day in this predominantly Roman Catholic country. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Filipino girls living beside multi-layered tombs ride a bike at a public cemetery in Navotas, north of Manila, Philippines on Thursday Oct. 31, 2013. Filipinos are expected to flock to cemeteries on Nov. 1 to remember their dead as they observe All Saints Day in this predominantly Roman Catholic country. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A boy hops from a cluster of crypts to another which are spruced up for the observance of All Saints' Day at a public cemetery at Paranaque city, south of Manila, Philippines Thursday Oct. 31, 2013. Traditionally, Christians troop to cemeteries and memorial parks to offer prayers every November 1st to pay tribute to their departed loved ones. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
Filipino Catholics spruce up the crypts of their loved ones at a public cemetery at Paranaque city, south of Manila, Philippines Thursday Oct. 31, 2013 to honor the departed on All Saint's Day. Traditionally, Christians troop to cemeteries and memorial parks to offer prayers every Nov. 1, to pay tribute to their departed loved ones. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
A Filipino man lights a cigarette on top of tombs at a public cemetery in Navotas, north of Manila, Philippines on Thursday Oct. 31, 2013. Filipinos are expected to flock to cemeteries on Nov. 1 to remember their dead as they observe All Saints Day in this predominantly Roman Catholic country. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A family of informal settlers prepare their meals next to multi-level crypts which are spruced up for the observance of All Saints' Day at a public cemetery at Paranaque city, south of Manila, Philippines Thursday Oct. 31, 2013. Traditionally, Christians visit cemeteries and memorial parks to offer prayers every Nov. 1 to pay tribute to their departed loved ones. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
A boy plays at multi-level crypts which are spruced up for the observance of All Saints' Day at a public cemetery at Paranaque city, south of Manila, Philippines Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013. Traditionally, Christians troop to cemeteries and memorial parks to offer prayers every Nov. 1 to pay tribute to their departed loved ones. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
Filipino Catholics spruce up the crypts of their loved ones at a public cemetery at Paranaque city, south of Manila, Philippines Thursday Oct. 31, 2013 to honor the departed on All Saint's Day. Traditionally, Christians troop to cemeteries and memorial parks to offer prayers every Nov. 1st to pay tribute to their departed loved ones. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
All Saint's Day Celebrated In The Philippines
MANILA, PHILIPPINES - OCTOBER 31: A man cleans the crypt of a departed relative at a public cemetery ahead of All Saints' Day on October 31, 2013 in Manila, Philippines. As the largest Catholic nation in Asia this public holiday allows Filipinos to visit the family cemeteries for overnight and weekend vigils. They bring candles and flowers and pay respects to departed loved ones. Offices and schools close as the usually silent graveyards become a party with food and music. (Photo by Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images)
All Saint's Day Celebrated In The Philippines
MANILA, PHILIPPINES - OCTOBER 31: A family lights candles on tombstones at a public cemetery for All Saint's Day on October 31, 2013 in Manila, Philippines. As the largest Catholic nation in Asia, All Saint's Day allows Filipinos to visit the family cemeteries for overnight and weekend vigils. They bring candles and flowers and pay respect to departed loved ones. Offices and schools close as the usually silent graveyards become a party with food and music. (Photo by Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images)
All Saint's Day Celebrated In The Philippines
MANILA, PHILIPPINES - OCTOBER 31: Children light candles at a public cemetery for All Saint's Day on October 31, 2013 in Manila, Philippines. As the largest Catholic nation in Asia, All Saint's Day allows Filipinos to visit the family cemeteries for overnight and weekend vigils. They bring candles and flowers and pay respect to departed loved ones. Offices and schools close as the usually silent graveyards become a party with food and music. (Photo by Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images)
All Saint's Day Celebrated In The Philippines
MANILA, PHILIPPINES - OCTOBER 31: Filipinos flock to a public cemetery for All Saint's Day on October 31, 2013 in Manila, Philippines. As the largest Catholic nation in Asia, All Saint's Day allows Filipinos to visit the family cemeteries for overnight and weekend vigils. They bring candles and flowers and pay respect to departed loved ones. Offices and schools close as the usually silent graveyards become a party with food and music. (Photo by Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images)
All Saint's Day Celebrated In The Philippines
MANILA, PHILIPPINES - OCTOBER 31: A shadow of a person falls on a tombstone at a public cemetery for All Saint's Day on October 31, 2013 in Manila, Philippines. As the largest Catholic nation in Asia, All Saint's Day allows Filipinos to visit the family cemeteries for overnight and weekend vigils. They bring candles and flowers and pay respect to departed loved ones. Offices and schools close as the usually silent graveyards become a party with food and music. (Photo by Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images)
All Saint's Day Celebrated In The Philippines
MANILA, PHILIPPINES - OCTOBER 31: A Children light candles at a public cemetery for All Saint's Day on October 31, 2013 in Manila, Philippines. As the largest Catholic nation in Asia, All Saint's Day allows Filipinos to visit the family cemeteries for overnight and weekend vigils. They bring candles and flowers and pay respect to departed loved ones. Offices and schools close as the usually silent graveyards become a party with food and music. (Photo by Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images)
Filipino Catholics visit the resting place of their loved ones at a public cemetery in Navotas, north of Manila, Philippines, in observance of All Saints' Day Friday, Nov. 1, 2013. Traditionally, Christians troop to cemeteries and memorial parks to offer prayers every November 1st to pay tribute to their departed loved ones. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
Filipino Catholics visit the crypts of their loved ones at a public cemetery in Navotas, north of Manila, Philippines, in observance of All Saint's Day Friday, Nov. 1, 2013. Traditionally, Christians troop to cemeteries and memorial parks to offer prayers every November 1st to pay tribute to their departed loved ones. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
A boy hops from tomb to another as Filipino Catholics offer prayers to the departed at a public cemetery in Navotas, north of Manila, Philippines, in observance of All Saint's Day Friday, Nov. 1, 2013. Traditionally, Christians troop to cemeteries and memorial parks to offer prayers every November 1st to pay tribute to their departed loved ones. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
Filipino Catholics light candles at the crypts of their loved ones at a public cemetery in Navotas, north of Manila, Philippines, in observance of All Saint's Day Friday, Nov. 1, 2013. Traditionally, Christians troop to cemeteries and memorial parks to offer prayers every November 1st to pay tribute to their departed loved ones. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
Filipino Catholics visit the tombs of their loved ones at Manila's North Cemetery in observance of All Saint's Day Friday Nov.1, 2013 in Manila, Philippines. Traditionally, Christians troop to cemeteries and memorial parks to offer prayers every November 1st to pay tribute to their departed loved ones. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
All Saint's Day Celebrated In The Philippines
MARIKINA CITY, PHILIPPINES Filipino families pass balloon sellers as All Saint's Day is celebrated on November 1, 2013 in Marikina City, Philippines. As the largest Catholic nation in Asia this public holiday allows Filipinos to visit the family cemeteries for overnight and weekend vigils. They bring candles and flowers and pay respects to departed loved ones. Offices and schools close as the usually silent graveyards become a party with food and music. (Photo by Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images)
A shadow of a Christian visitor is reflected on an epitaph of a departed as he lights candles at a public cemetery in Navotas, north of Manila, Philippines, in observance of All Saint's Day Friday Nov. 1, 2013. Traditionally, Christians troop to cemeteries and memorial parks to offer prayers every November 1st to pay tribute to their departed loved ones. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
PHILIPPINES-RELIGION-TRADITION-DEAD
Relatives light candles at the tomb stone of their departed love ones in Manila on November 1, 2013. Millions across the Catholic Philippines trooped to cemeteries to honour their dead in typically festive fashion on All Saints' Day Friday, ignoring appeals from the Church to keep the day solemn. AFP PHOTO / Jay DIRECTO (Photo credit should read JAY DIRECTO/AFP/Getty Images)
Friday, 1 November 2013
That Night at the Viper Room - Vanity Fair
Wednesday nights became theme nights at the Viper Room, called Mr. Moo’s Adventure, named after Johnny Depp’s dog. One Wednesday might be “Women in Prison” night, with the V.I.P. booths turned into prison cells; another might find the club converted into an airplane; another would have the black walls covered with aluminum foil. These elaborate evenings were money losers but fun for the club staff.
The Viper Room hosted two episodes of its version of The Dating Game; for one of them, bar back Richmond Arquette recruited his younger brother, actor David Arquette (Scream) to be the bachelor. Richmond wrote some questions for his brother to read to his romantic prospects, but when David attempted the first one, he laughed so hard, he couldn’t get the words out. The question was: “I like to masturbate for hours on end until I’m in danger of dying from dehydration. What do you like to do in your spare time?”
Another night, the bachelor was actor Norman Reedus (now most famous for The Walking Dead). “They sort of set him up,” Richmond Arquette remembered. “One of the bachelorettes was this Mexican tranny. They gave her the best answers, and he picked her. When Reedus’s choice was revealed, “even though it was all in jest, you could see her vulnerability. He did this beautiful thing: he kissed her, said, ‘I’m so happy,’ and was really gracious about it. I always liked him for that.”
***
After the emotional wringer of filming Gus Van Sant’s My Own Private Idaho, “I just did not feel like barreling through someone’s psychosis,” River said. He opted for a low-stress money gig: Sneakers. As one actor in the film said of the title, “It sounded like a bad teen comedy about a hapless junior-high basketball team that is saved when they recruit a girl point guard who’s a great shot.”
The movie was actually a heist caper centered on a band of professional computer hackers and security consultants; the N.S.A. dragoons them into stealing a black box that is the ultimate code-breaking tool. Director Phil Alden Robinson (Field of Dreams) assembled an absurdly star-studded cast: Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, Dan Aykroyd, and Ben Kingsley, not to mention Mary McDonnell, David Strathairn, and James Earl Jones. A hugely classy ensemble—but the studio wanted to make sure that there was also some youth appeal and pushed for River.
On the set, River quickly bonded with Aykroyd (another actor who really just wanted to rock). The two of them would gaze awestruck at Redford and Poitier, River said. “We’d think, ‘These guys are like national monuments, like the pyramids.’ And that poses the question, ‘But what are we?’ Well, I guess we’re sand crabs or scabs or something less dignified.”
Aykroyd and River had a host of running jokes; they dubbed the catering truck the Roach Coach, which evolved into calling each other Mr. Woach and Mrs. Woach. River would pinch the fat on Aykroyd’s waist or blow on his bald spot. “Just complete, absolute, total irreverence,” Aykroyd said. “And he could get away with it.”
The first day of shooting, Robinson thought River was fine—but when he saw him in dailies, he was much more impressed. “He makes very quirky choices that really come alive on film,” the director said.
The quirkiest choice of all comes during a montage at a party, where most of the cast takes turns dancing with Mary McDonnell while Aretha Franklin’s “Chain of Fools” plays. Poitier is all stiff reserve, while Aykroyd proves to be a surprisingly accomplished swing dancer. And then River flails around like a punk moshing at a Germs concert, kneecaps bobbing and arms waving. It’s the most visually arresting seven seconds in the movie.
The shoot stretched over five months, but River had plenty of downtime, both because he had a supporting role in a large ensemble and because breaks were built into the schedule; Redford insisted on 10 days off at Christmas time so he could go on his annual skiing vacation. So River pushed forward with Aleka’s Attic, the band he’d formed with sister Rain.
Drummer Josh Greenbaum came to California and spent hours jamming with River between scenes. The two-year development deal with Island had been going on for roughly four years; the label wanted to see if their investment had paid off. A&R rep Kim Buie engaged top-flight producer T-Bone Burnett (Elvis Costello, Los Lobos), and River went into the studio to record two songs with Greenbaum, Rain, and close pal Michael “Flea” Balzary of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
When Island’s Chris Blackwell heard the tape, he decided not to pick up the option on the band—to River’s dismay. “It turned out that my voice wasn’t star quality,” River said sardonically. “I’m so glad that it didn’t happen, because I don’t want to make music for the masses. I just want to make it for my friends and the people I play with.”
“In hindsight, I’m not sure that River having a band was necessarily the best decision,” Buie said; she thought he might have done better as a solo acoustic performer. “A band takes time. And his acting career was always competing for his time. Finding the flow and the continuity within a band, it was a challenge. I think he just wasn’t at a place where he could do it full-time and figure out what River Phoenix—the musician, the artist, the songwriter—wanted to be.”
While Sneakers shot in Los Angeles, River stayed at Flea’s house. The bassist was out of town on tour, but plenty of his friends still came around, giving River easy access to whatever drug he wanted, including heroin. Not that it was all party time: one disagreement led to a drug buddy chasing River through the house with a butcher’s knife.
Soon after that incident, River’s former tutor Dirk Drake came to visit and was extremely concerned by the heroin situation. He told River that he was “furious about the glamour those friends attached to scag.”
To which River replied, “Don’t worry, I have the fear of God.”
That infuriated Drake, who suggested that River should change careers from actor to Baptist preacher.
Jim Dobson, who had been the publicist on Jimmy Reardon, saw River for the first time in years and was astonished by the transformation. “He was 100 percent different,” Dobson said. “He’d gone from a cute, well-groomed kid to someone who wouldn’t bathe, and his face was very gray. We all assumed he was on drugs.”
Aykroyd, who had lost his close friend and performing partner John Belushi to a drug overdose, tried to steer River away from heroin. “I think Aykroyd was a very good influence on his life,” Dobson said.
Drake said that there were multiple interventions by River’s friends about his drinking and drug abuse, but none of them had any effect: “River had a strong passion and love of sensation, whether it was watching a full moon or tossing some pints.”
Sneakers is not without charm—in a climactic scene, the principals are being held at gunpoint by the N.S.A. but then realize they have the black-box MacGuffin and, hence, the upper hand. They start making demands before they hand it over. Redford’s character obtains a promise that the federal government will leave him alone, while Aykroyd’s gets a fully kitted Winnebago. River’s character, Carl Arbogast, just asks for the phone number of “the young lady with the Uzi.” Moments like that are why the film was not only a solid box-office hit but also has retained a small but devoted cult following across the decades.
The film received generally positive, if not effusive, reviews. Rita Kempley in The Washington Post called it an “entertaining time-waster,” describing River’s performance as “sweetly underwhelming.”
Ultimately, for all its twists, turns, and reverses, the picture feels thin and formulaic. River didn’t care for it and told his friends not to see it. “I play this cyberpunk nerd, just full on,” he said. “I’ve really degraded myself. He’s very hyper, always twitching, the kind of guy you avoid playing if you want to walk with dignity and grace at the premiere.”
In keeping with its code-breaking theme, the opening credits of Sneakers has the names of some of the film’s major players presented as anagrams before they get unscrambled: “BLOND RHINO SPANIEL” becomes “PHIL ALDEN ROBINSON,” while “FORT RED BORDER” turns into “ROBERT REDFORD,” and “A TURNIP CURES ELVIS” reveals itself as “UNIVERSAL PICTURES.” Not all cast members got their names shuffled—if they had, the world might have discovered that one anagram for “RIVER PHOENIX” is “VIPER HEROIN X.”
Double Take 'Toons: Happy Halloween! - NPR
It's unclear whether Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' testimony before Congress quieted concerns over the faltering start of HealthCare.gov. "Necro" Nick Anderson doesn't think she was starting from a position of strength, while "Jugular" John Cole has no doubt about the GOP response.
'Ender's Game,' With Harrison Ford and Asa Butterfield - New York Times
Richard Foreman/Summit Entertainment
Hailee Steinfeld and Asa Butterfield in "Ender's Game."
At one point in “Ender’s Game,” the boy brainiac Ender Wiggin stands on a podium waving his arms. A vast, immersive image of outer space is spread out before him, and if you didn’t know better, you might think he was playing Wii on an Imax screen. It’s an amusingly self-reflexive moment in a humorless movie about children who play war games as part of their very grown-up military training. As he furiously moves spaceships and troops across computer screens, he looks, by turns, like a superexcited kid, an orchestra conductor, Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerer’s Apprentice and even a Christ figure. Childhood can be tough in movies, but rarely do screen children suffer for our sins as they do here.
Summit Entertainment
Harrison Ford addresses a class of potential warriors in “Ender’s Game,” the film adaptation of the novel by Orson Scott Card.
Based on the 1985 science-fiction novel by Orson Scott Card, the movie envisions a future world ruled by a monolithic militaristic government that trains children to fight large insectlike extraterrestrials called Formics or buggers. When the story opens, Ender (Asa Butterfield) thinks he’s just another runt with a monitor jammed in his neck that allows the authorities, personified by Colonel Graff who, because he’s played by Harrison Ford, should have been called Gruff, and a psychologist, Major Anderson (Viola Davis), to observe each potential warrior’s words, moods and tears. Graff believes that Ender may be the child to lead them all, a sermon he preaches as Ender is tested first on Earth and then in the outer space battle school where the movie gets its game on.
It’s no surprise that Mr. Card’s novel, which he followed with several sequels, has sold a zillion copies. The charismatic leader, the divine child, the possible Christ figure or potential Hitler stand-in (according to one notorious, widely circulated reading): Ender Wiggin is an expediently malleable figure. In the novel, he is also, shades of the Spartans, 6 when he ships off to battle school, which puts a distinctly ugly spin on a scene in the book in which he methodically brutalizes a bully, kicking the other boy repeatedly, including in the face. Ender has logically decided that by crushing the other boy, he will prevent future attacks, a prophylactic philosophy that mirrors the authorities’ attitude toward the buggers. He’s 12 in the movie, which doesn’t make that beating any better.
It’s taken decades for “Ender’s Game” to reach the screen, and it’s hard not to think that it had to wait for the right anxious moment. In the 1950s, adolescent alienation meant Sal Mineo’s Christ figure dying in the embrace of his surrogate parents in “Rebel Without a Cause.” Many years and sad stories later, the kids are still not all right, and while much remains the same, much has changed, including the familiar reality of the child who kills. Like the kids in the “Harry Potter” franchise and in “The Hunger Games,” Ender and his schoolmates do have childish moments. Yet what’s striking about the children in these pop culture behemoths is that, unlike in “Rebel,” they aren’t allowed to pretend to be adults, because the world compels them to assume those roles.
The adults in “Ender’s Game” come off as exceedingly creepy, despite Mr. Ford’s strained avuncularity and Ms. Davis’s flooding eyes. Ender is singled out because he seems to be a natural leader, which in the logic of both the book and the movie means someone who imposes his will on enemy and friend alike. He’s rational and brutal, which is a harder sell on the screen, where every punch carries an unsettling intensity that the director, Gavin Hood, has trouble managing. Mr. Butterfield is one of those young performers whose seriousness feels as if it sprang from deep within. And while he’s an appealing presence, little Ender can’t help feeling like a pint-size psycho.
Mr. Hood, whose script winnows the novel into two hours of mostly action and a fair amount of talk, does better once the story shifts to space. (Ender’s home, where crammed bookshelves line one wall and his mother bustles alone in the kitchen like a 1950s housewife, has a pointless antediluvian quality.) Among the dividends are a barking sergeant, Dap (Nonso Anozie), and a giant geodesic-dome-like room in which trainees practice in zero gravity. It’s pleasant to watch these tiny untethered bodies float like cosmic motes and to follow Ender into an appealingly detailed animated computer game, in which he tumbles down a rabbit hole and discovers a mystery that will presumably only be fully solved in the sequels. His tribulations are likely not over.
“Ender’s Game” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Genocidal violence and extreme fighting among children.
Ender’s Game
Opens on Friday.
Written and directed by Gavin Hood, based on the book by Orson Scott Card; director of photography, Donald M. McAlpine; edited by Zach Staenberg and Lee Smith; music by Steve Jablonsky; production design by Sean Haworth and Ben Procter; costumes by Christine Bieselin Clark; visual effects supervisor, Matthew E. Butler; produced by Gigi Pritzker, Linda McDonough, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Robert Chartoff, Lynn Hendee, Mr. Card and Ed Ulbrich; released by Summit Entertainment. Running time: 1 hour 54 minutes.
WITH: Harrison Ford (Colonel Graff), Asa Butterfield (Ender Wiggin), Hailee Steinfeld (Petra Arkanian), Viola Davis (Major Gwen Anderson), Abigail Breslin (Valentine Wiggin), Nonso Anozie (Sergeant Dap) and Ben Kingsley (Mazer Rackham).
Last Minute Halloween Costumes
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