Huffington (Issue #76-77)

NOVEMBER 24-DECEMBER 1, 2013

Contents HUFFINGTON 11.24-12.01.13

SPECIAL DOUBLE ISSUE

Enter POINTERS: Obama’s New Low... Charges Against Zimmerman JASON LINKINS: Looking Forward in Angst DATA: Comet of the Century Q&A: David Blaine MOVING IMAGE

Voices ERIN GIBSON: Long Hair, Full Boners, Can’t Lose MARK GODSEY: The Powerful Go Punished in Texas QUOTED

Exit BEHIND THE SCENES: Somali Pirate Movies Are Everywhere THE THIRD METRIC: Conspiracy for Good EAT THIS: Thanksgiving Sides Like You’ve Never Seen Them DOG EARS: Stuffy Turkey TFU FROM THE EDITOR: Taking the Stress Out of Giving ON THE COVER: Photo Illustration

for Huffington by Troy Dunham

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Taking the Stress Out of Giving N THIS WEEK’S issue, we present our annual stress-free gift guide, with creative suggestions for every person — and personality — in your life.

Technology writer Betsy Isaacson has curated a list that will satisfy even the most discerning

ART STREIBER

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gearhead. Smartphone and tablet devotees will appreciate the seasonally appropriate, touchscreenfriendly wool gloves, and even expert photographers will marvel at a digital point-and-shoot camera that fits in the palm of your hand.

Our food gifts, compiled by HuffPost Taste editor Kristen Aiken, will keep the foodies in your life satiated. “Have a friend who’s kept every back issue of Gourmet

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

and Bon Appetit, but is a little on the cutting edge?” Kristen writes.

“They’re probably dying for a subscription to Lucky Peach, the creation of the culinary world’s current ‘it boy,’ David Chang.”

Meanwhile, our culture and style suggestions for your fashionable friends range from a Man Ray chess set to a beautifully-designed Crosley turntable that can convert your favorite LPs to digital files.

Elsewhere in the issue, Mallika Rao explores the current trend in Somali pirate films, explaining that the violence of contemporary piracy makes for perfect Hollywood fodder. From the high-profile Captain Phillips, starring Tom Hanks, to the Danish import A Hijacking — “aka ‘the Somali pirate movie without Tom Hanks’” — Mallika writes that “it’s boom time for a brand new genre.”

Mallika notes that, while older films tend to portray pirates

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as “charming, swashbuckling” characters, movies today show a greater awareness of the sad conditions that drive men to piracy.

“Finally, not everyone thinks of Johnny Depp,” says Cyrus Mody, assistant director of the Interna-

Have a friend who’s kept every back issue of Gourmet and Bon Appetit, but is a little on the cutting edge? They’re probably dying for a subscription to Lucky Peach.” tional Maritime Bureau, which tracks and publicizes piracy statistics worldwide.

And as part of our continued focus on The Third Metric, Ann Brenoff talks to Tim Kring, a Hollywood producer who made traditional TV shows until his desire to bring people together led him to a new, more interactive kind of storytelling.

Join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook

ARIANNA

DREW ANGERER-POOL/GETTY IMAGES

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1

NEW LOW

POINTERS

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President Obama’s approval ratings have hit their lowest point yet, just weeks after the rollout of Obamacare, according to a poll released by The Washington Post and ABC News. A record 55 percent of people said they disapprove of the president, and a record 57 percent said they’re against Obamacare, an increase of 8 points from last month. “Obama has hit other rough stretches in his presidency, whether because of unhappiness about the economy, controversy over health-care reform or reaction to unexpected problems such as the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico,” wrote The Washington Post’s Dan Balz and Peyton Craighill. “But in those cases, his standing was helped somewhat by favorable impressions of him personally.” Obama’s favorability rating dropped, too — 46 percent view him favorably and 52 percent unfavorably.

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FROM TOP: AP PHOTO/BILAL HUSSEIN; AP PHOTO/JACQUELYN MARTIN; SCOTT EELLS/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES

2

POINTERS

NEARLY TWO DOZEN DEAD

A pair of bombs exploded Tuesday at the Iranian Embassy in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, killing at least 23 people. An al Qaeda-linked group, Abdullah Azzam Brigades, claimed responsibility for the attack. It appeared to be targeting Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite party that has helped Assad in the Syrian civil war.

“If you want to win the war in Syria and capture Damascus, you have to hit Syrian allies,” said Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma.

3 VIRGINIA STATE SENATOR STABBED

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Virginia state Sen. Creigh Deeds suffered serious injuries after he was stabbed in the head and torso inside his home on Tuesday. His son, Gus Deeds, died on the scene from a gunshot wound. Police are investigating the incident as an attempted murder and suicide. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, who beat Deeds in the 2009 gubernatorial race, released a statement saying, “I urge all Virginians today to join me in praying for a full and complete recovery for Creigh and for many more years of his public service to the Commonwealth.”

HISTORIC SETTLEMENT

In the largest deal in history between a corporation and a government, JPMorgan Chase and the U.S. Justice Department agreed to a $13 billion settlement this week over risky mortgages sold ahead of the financial crisis. “Without a doubt, the conduct uncovered in this investigation helped sow the seeds of the mortgage meltdown,” Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement. “JPMorgan was not the only financial institution during this period to knowingly bundle toxic loans and sell them to unsuspecting investors, but that is no excuse for the firm’s behavior.”

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POINTERS

COURT RULES ON ABORTION

The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that it would not block Texas abortion restrictions requiring doctors who perform abortions at clinics to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans is expected to hear the case in January. “In just the few short days since the injunction was lifted, over one-third of the facilities providing abortions in Texas have been forced to stop providing that care,” Planned Parenthood said in a plea to the court. Texas Gov. Rick Perry said the decision “is good news both for the unborn and for the women of Texas, who are now better protected from shoddy abortion providers operating in dangerous conditions.”

6 FROM TOP: SAUL LOEB/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; AP PHOTO/ORLANDO SENTINEL, JOE BURBANK, POOL

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ZIMMERMAN CHARGED AGAIN THAT’S VIRAL THIS IS STRAIGHTUP DESPICABLE

George Zimmerman was arrested Monday and charged with aggravated assault, battery and criminal mischief after a domestic dispute at his girlfriend’s home.

He was acquitted earlier this year in the killing of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin. His girlfriend, Samantha Scheibe, told police that Zimmerman pointed a gun at her while they were arguing and pushed her out of the house. Zimmerman contradicted that version of events in a separate 911 call. “Just when you thought you heard the last of George Zimmerman,” neighbor Catherine Cantrell told the AP.

A selection of the week’s most talked-about stories.

HEADLINES TO VIEW FULL STORIES

NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU LOVE YOUR FIANCÉ, DON’T DO THIS

THE THINGS ALL HANGRY PEOPLE DO

ROB FORD. THAT IS ALL.

THE NAPTIME LOVE STORY

MANDEL NGAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

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JASON LINKINS

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SO, ABOUT THAT WHOLE ‘OBAMA’S KATRINA’ THING T

HE HOT NEWSCYCLE ornament everyone’s been talking about is an article by Michael

D. Shear in The New York Times that essentially advances the idea that the roll-out of the Affordable Care Act is “Obama’s Katrina.”

In fairness to Shear, this is a meme his piece has been saddled with, due to the typical reductio

President Barack Obama speaks with the press regarding the Affordable Care Act on Nov. 14.

Enter ad absurdum of the modern political media. All he was hoping to convey was that recent mishegas about Obamacare has created a situation in which perceptions of the Democrats’ ability to govern efficiently have been undermined.

That’s fairly true. Fresh from a government-shutdown standoff in which they drew a line in the sand, held it with public support, and briefly revived some hope that their party might outperform expectations in the upcoming midterms, Democrats are now in a panicky disarray, and may sign on in large numbers to a legislative “fix” that could potentially make matters worse.

But the funny thing about everyone who’s since reduced this whole idea to “Obama’s healthcare law is exactly like that time President George W. Bush and his administration failed to respond to a disaster that killed many hundreds of people,” is that they are also right. Obama will pay the same personal cost over the Affordable Care Act’s bungled rollout as Bush did for his Katrina response.

Which is to say, no cost at all.

I don’t think people actually realize just how toothless the whole “Obama’s Katrina” metaphor re-

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ally is. Yes, it’s pretty exciting to have so many people finally admit that Bush’s Katrina response was a bad thing. But what are they really saying? Basically, this: “Oh, man, if things keep going the way they’re going, President Obama runs the risk of ending up a superwealthy American celebrity who will want for nothing and whose family will always have health insurance.” I’ve said this before,

Obama will pay the same personal cost over the Affordable Care Act’s bungled rollout as Bush did for his Katrina response.

Which is to say, no cost at all.” but I will happily roll out a crappy website that everyone hates if I could get the same deal.

For me, the promulgation of an “Obama’s Katrina” metaphor firmly underscores the basic lack of real stakes involved for all of the people having that conversation. Obama is going to live well and without concern for the rest of his life. The vast majority of the lawmakers involved in the ongoing debate over the matter will as

Enter well. So will most of the pundits currently batting this meme back and forth. They’ll all be fine. Really, super fine, actually. They’re going to have terrific, largely worry-free lives.

And I’m not even sure that the Affordable Care Act is necessarily destined to be some terrifying loss — though everything basically hinges on this website getting fixed in a very timely fashion. Should it get up to patch and start delivering customers to the exchanges in big numbers, then the Obamacare rollout could end up mattering just as much as that first debate between Obama and Mitt Romney — the one that, you know, ended the Obama presidency. Regardless, I’m pretty sure that when all is said and done, no one will be rebuilding homes in the Lower Ninth Ward because the health insurance market got disrupted.

If everything falls to ruin, however, then sure — the Affordable Care Act’s failings will shadow Obama for the rest of his life, manifesting mainly in the way everyone will talk about the next president’s failings as his or her “Obamacare.”

There has to be a great story out there about what life is like for normal human Americans who

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aren’t affluent political celebrities or who don’t enjoy a luxurious sinecure in Beltway punditry.

But the saddest part of all of this is that the Affordable Care Act’s woes have created only a brief interest in the woes of ordinary Americans, and just how terrifying it can

The promulgation of an ‘Obama’s Katrina’ metaphor firmly underscores the basic lack of real stakes involved for all of the people having that conversation.” be for one’s life to depend on the kindness of insurance providers in the individual market. Right now, if you can proffer a letter attesting to the fact that you’ve lost your health insurance, chances are you can finally get a reporter who had never previously evinced interest in the matter on the phone.

It wasn’t always this way. A July 2009 study conducted by Families USA found that between January 2008 and December 2010, in the teeth of the economic downturn, over 44,000 Americans were receiving notice that they’d be losing their health

Enter insurance every week. The same people breaking story after story about those losing their coverage now had better things to do back when it really mattered. As with almost any story that we could tell about the rampant, constant, tragic economic insecurity of the average American, it only seems to swell up as a Thing That Matters when such plight can play a role in the Beltway parlor game of who’s winning and who’s losing.

That’s what makes the whole “Obama’s Katrina” construction such a multi-layer insult to normal people. It makes the assumption that Bush actually suffered some real material loss in the hurricane that hit New Orleans.

He didn’t. It further assumes that some similar hardship is coming to Obama’s doorstep. This is only true if we define “hardship” as “no hardship at all.” It glibly trivializes the real people who have suffered in both instances — those who suffered some sort of devastation in the Gulf region, or those who have been dealt a hard blow in the insurance market. Finally, it only underscores the wholly transient nature of the media’s concern for the welfare of ordinary people. If their suffering can’t be

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translated into a telenovela about the electoral troubles of affluent political celebrities, it doesn’t merit coverage.

In the end, when we talk about how Hurricane Katrina is like the Affordable Care Act, we’re talking about the most ephemeral damage in the world — the damage to a president’s legacy. This is important to some people — perhaps it really matters very deeply to presidents

You try telling... someone who knows the perils of not having affordable health care, “Well, the good news is that the rich politician on whose watch this happened has taken a real hit to their reputation, so you have that going for you.”

Bush and Obama. But you try telling a Katrina survivor, or someone who knows the perils of not having affordable health care, “Well, the good news is that the rich politician on whose watch this happened has taken a real hit to their reputation, so you have that going for you.”

Hopefully your health insurance will cover the cost of having your jaw reset.

Q&A

FROM TOP: ROBIN MARCHANT/GETTY IMAGES; BENNETT RAGLIN/BET/GETTY IMAGES FOR BET

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David Blaine Amazes Us With His Magic Skills “I’ll tell you how you’re going to find it. You’re going to use one card to locate your card...”

Above: Illusionist David Blaine at an Electrified: One Million Volts Always On preview in October 2012. Below: Bow Wow, Keshia Chante and Blaine attend 106 & Park in November 2013.

FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW, VISIT HUFFPOST LIVE

DATA

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‘ Comet of the Century’ Dances Across Sky Touted as the “comet of the century,” ISON has brightened dramatically over the course of a few days. It’s now visible to the naked eye, and approaching a Nov. 28 perihelion — the comet’s close graze past the surface of the sun. Comet ISON is expected to trace this path across the sky’s constellations until it’s no longer visible to the naked eye sometime in January 2014. — Macrina Cooper-White

•­—­— FEB ‘14

ISON AT A GLANCE TAP FOR TEXT

JAN ‘14 —­—•­

Auriga Ursa Minor Gemini Ursa Major

Hercules

•­—­— AUG ‘13

SOURCES: ASTRONOMY MAGAZINE, DAVID J. EICHER. NASA.

•­—­— SEP ‘13 Leo

•­—­— OCT ‘13

Bootes Corona Borealis

Virgo

•­—­— DEC ‘13

Scorpius ILLUSTRATIONS BY KURT SMITH

•­—­— NOV ‘13

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Kimberly Wells competes for the Fearless Femmes in the women’s omnium during the 2013 UCI Festival of Speed.

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Ipameri, Brazil 11.12.2013 A seeder plants a mixture of maize and grass in the newly cultivated area at Santa Brigida farm. In 2009, Brazil pledged to reduce between 36 and 39 percent of their CO2 emissions, and went from the fourth to the seventh largest emitter in recent years, after an 80 percent reduction in Amazon deforestation and integrated farming of crop, livestock and forest, according to Climate Observatory.

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Manchester, England 11.14.2013 Queen Elizabeth II watches youths’ boxing training while visiting The Factor Youth Zone in Manchester.

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Leer, Germany 11.15.2013 The Norwegian “Getaway” cruise ship makes its way down the Ems River towards the North Sea. The 4,000 passenger capacity Norwegian Cruiseline ship is scheduled to be christened by the Miami Dolphins’ cheerleaders in February 2014.

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Nagasaki, Japan 11.14.2013 King penguins don bow ties for their walk in the penguin parade during the inaugural ceremony of the Nagasaki Penguin Aquarium.

The parade will continue to be held on weekends until May 2014.

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Toronto, Canada 11.15.2013 Toronto Mayor Rob Ford stands in a sea of reporters at City Hall after the Toronto City Council stripped him of some of his duties. Ford is no longer authorized during emergency situations, is not able to hire or fire the deputy mayor or appoint members of the executive committee.

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Daih, Bahrain 11.15.2013 Shiite Muslims participate in a religious procession for Ashura, which commemorates the 7th century slaying of Imam Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Mohammed.

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Dubai, United Arab Emirates 11.17.2013 Robotic jockeys control camels during a race at the Dubai Camel Racing Club. Camel racing is one of the oldest sports in the Middle East, and until 2002, Indian children were used as jockeys for the camels.

Now, camel owners control the animal with robotic whips, shock absorbers and GPS systems.

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Karo, Indonesia 11.18.2013 Sumatra’s Mount Sinabung erupts as a man uses a mobile phone in the vicinity. A week earlier, more than 5,000 people fled their homes since the volcano first erupted earlier in the month.

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Leyte, Philippines 11.18.2013 A family gathers around the grave of a deceased relative who was killed by Typhoon Haiyan. The typhoon was considered one of the most powerful in recorded history, leaving thousands dead and hundreds of thousands homeless.

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Phnom Penh, Cambodia 11.12.2013 An injured worker escapes from riot police in the compound of a Buddhist pagoda. Recently, Cambodian police have fired upon protesting garment workers, injuring at least six and killing a bystander.

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Cuiaba, Brazil 11.13.2013 Gaviao Indians compete in tug of war at the 12th Games of the Indigenous People. Around 1,600 participants from 48 tribes are celebrating Brazil’s indigenous cultures during the games.

Tap here for a more extensive look at the week on The Huffington Post.

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Voices

ERIN GIBSON

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SGP/FAMEFLYNET PICTURES

Long Hair, Full Boners, Can’t Lose BREEZE PAST any lady magazine and you’ll see that female celebrities are chopping off their highmaintenance locks by the dozens.

While most of us fall into the “don’t give a crap” camp, one man in particular has been so deeply affected by the trend, he took key

to Internet and did the unthinkable — he penned a tirade on TotalFratMove.com titled “Why Girls Should Not Cut Their Hair Short.”

The piece is written by Roger Sterling Jr. — not John Slattery or Matthew Weiner — but a nom de plume for another person who is too brave to give his actual name. In his article, (fake) Roger Sterling Jr. breaks down his very specific rea-

Jennifer Lawrence poses with her recently chopped hair at the Hunger Games: Catching Fire premiere at the 8th Rome Film Festival in November 2013.

Voices sons why girls should think twice before handing a photo of Michelle Williams to a hair care professional and saying “me have that.” (impostor) Roger Sterling Jr. starts off his opus with a little history on how all men were raised to get boners: None of us grew up looking at or imagining ourselves with women rocking a solid scissor fade. Still, over the past couple of years, there has been a disturbing trend spreading across gender lines: pixie cut.

So many hot women are cutting off their boner power centers — Michelle Williams, Carey Mulligan, Beyonce, who, let’s be honest, just showed us what her hair looks like under her millions of wigs, Charlize Theron, (or as my aunt Cathy calls her “Charlyne Theron”), Halle Berry, Miley Cyrus, Sienna Miller, Natalie Portman, and, the woman who I believe put the final nail in the pixie cut boner killing coffin, Jennifer Lawrence.

Just playing devil’s haircut here, but I would say these celebrities might actually be pulling it off. It’s common knowledge

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So many hot women are cutting off their boner power centers — Michelle Williams, Carey Mulligan, Beyonce, who, let’s be honest, just showed us what her hair looks like under her millions of wigs.” that Hollywood is fueled by boners, and the fact that these ladies are still allowed in Hollywood speaks to their “pulling it off” abilities. And, as far as “pulling it off” with younger boners, as far as high-school-aged boys are concerned, I bet I could go to the Beverly Center and find four hundred 11-15 year old boys at Finish Line who have jerked off to shorthaired Emma Watson. I don’t want to, but I could. (fraudulent) Roger Sterling, Jr. goes on to say: You Will Stand Out, But Not in a Good Way There are certain things about girls that a guy only notices if they are spectacular or spectacularly awful. Tits, ass, legs, and a couple other things stand out regardless, but a girl’s eyes are only worth not-

Voices

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ing if they look photoshopped in real life or if they are hanging out of their sockets.

To be clear, what he’s saying is that he only notices eyes if they’ve been rasterized and given a Gaussian blur, or if your eyes are hangin’ out of your dead body — the only two acceptable states for attention-grabbing eyes. (charlatan) Roger Sterling Jr. says the same logic applies to hair.

PAUL ARCHULETA/FILMMAGIC/GETTY IMAGES

... where outside of blonde, brunette, and easy, the male population will give a collective shrug in regard to her having curled it, straightened it, pulled it up, or having done whatever else she spends an hour and a half doing before she goes out.

We only notice the length when it happens to rival our own.

He brings up an interesting problem for a large population of straight frat dudes, and that’s the inability to stop questioning the amount of gayness inside them.

Let’s say (imitation) Roger Sterling Jr. is doing a girl doggystyle — a girl with short hair — let’s say Adriana Lima with a 1997 Lilith Fair pixie cut. He might be think-

ing something along the lines of “I’m clearly putting my dick in a hot, sexy, pussy — but what if I’m not? What if I’m putting my dick in a man butt? Is this a man butt?

Is this a man? Oh no! Am I gay?

What if I’m gay? No, way, I’m not gay. I fuck girls and this is a girl.

But that hair is making my brain confused!!! Why is being homophobic fucking up my sex life?”

His last point, and I think (masquerader) Roger Sterling Jr.’s strongest point, is that it will make you ugly.

They Amplify Your Flaws To Other Girls All of those odd insecurities you have about your looks are only highlighted with short

Halle Berry sports her signature short cut at the 20th Annual EIF Revlon Run/ Walk for Women in May 2013.

Voices hair. If you have bad teeth or some other sort of imperfection, with short hair, you’re putting it front and center.

Even if you don’t have a glaring flaw, there’s one thing of which I’m sure: your face is going to look fat. Need further proof? Look at that picture of ole Jennifer Lawrence above and remember that she looked fine before.

Now, I have to say, I agree with him and I think this works for both sexes. I am never attracted to guys with short hair, because it makes their faces so fat and ugly, without exception, and I can see their teeth and their unkempt eyebrows and their gross male noses. It’s fucking disgusting and a real lady boner killer.

Now, I know a lot of women have had a problem with (bogus) Roger Sterling Jr.’s piece, and not because it’s clearly a first draft.

To those ladies who got upset, don’t worry! I wasn’t aware of an election where (forged) Roger Sterling Jr. was elected king of all men. Furthermore, there are lots of men who give zero fucks about hair length. Remember Kanye West’s ex, nearly bald, walking

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I am never attracted to guys with short hair, because it makes their faces so fat and ugly, without exception, and I can see their teeth and their unkempt eyebrows and their gross make noses.” sex, Amber Rose? And let’s not forget Frank Sinatra’s nearly lifetime love affair with Mia Farrow.

I’d say Sinatra is probably the expert on what’s fuckable, considering he’s banged more chicks than Wilt Chamberlain.

Having had a haircut that would make Grace Jones jealous, and in the spirit of being fair and balanced, I’d like to discuss the amazing things about having short hair, in particular, the points that speak to fuckability.

Why Women Should Cut Their Hair Short

by Peggy Olson #1 Having a girlfriend with shorter hair means she has an extra 40 minutes a day because she’s not having to dry her hair. That’s 40 extra minutes for sex, and that’s pure

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DIMITRIOS KAMBOURIS/GETTY IMAGES

math, so you can’t really argue with that. #2 I would say this is the best argument I have in favor of girls with short hair — all that hair doesn’t get in the way of getting your dick sucked. Everyone wins! And I’d say I just closed on short hair forever.

Writer to writer, (not) Roger Sterling Jr., whatever you’re working on next, something on why BBQ sauce makes a great lubricant or how to steal money from the homeless, think about writing about personal opinions and experiences. An article about why your boner goes on vacation when you see short lady hair is actually interesting, diving into why you were raised to have an erection when you see long hair, furiously masturbating when you see old Crystal Gayle albums or girls at Sci-Fi conventions, etc.

That’s a good story! But a bossyass tirade shaming women so they’ll do things your way makes you seem like a dude with a lot of baggage, confidence problems, and I hate to say it, I bet you don’t wipe your butt that well.

And do a little research. In the case of this article, you might

have found out that thanks to DNA and being raised in a myriad of environments, guys don’t all like the same thing. Moving forward, I’m happy to find millions of long-haired celebrities/porn actresses on the Internet that you can jerk off to through the zipper hole of your J Crew pleated khakis. You can stay busy reinforcing your heterosexuality without being a judgmental nameless dick to the young Helen Mirrens of the world.

Erin Gibson is a writer and director for Funny or Die.

Michelle Williams said in 2011 that she keeps her hair short in memory of Heath Ledger, who always liked it that way.

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AP PHOTO/STATESMAN.COM, RICARDO BRAZZIELL, POOL

The Powerful Go Punished in Texas

E

ARLIER THIS MONTH in Texas, former prosecutor and judge Ken Anderson pled guilty to intentionally failing to disclose evidence in a case that sent an innocent man, Michael Morton, to prison for the murder of his wife.

When trying the case as a prosecutor, Anderson possessed evidence that may have cleared Morton, including statements from the crime’s only eyewitness that Morton wasn’t the culprit. Anderson sat on this evidence, and then watched Morton get convicted. While Morton remained in prison for the next 25 years, Anderson’s career flourished, and he eventually became a judge.

Ken Anderson chokes back tears after recalling a prosecution that wrongfully sentenced a Texas man to 25 years.

The man was exonerated in 2011 following new DNA tests.

Voices Anderson pled to criminal contempt, and will have to give up his law license, perform 500 hours of community service, and spend 10 days in jail. Anderson had already resigned in September from his position on the Texas bench.

What makes this plea newsworthy is not that Anderson engaged in misconduct that sent an innocent man to prison. Indeed, while most prosecutors and police officers are ethical and take their constitutional obligations seriously, government misconduct — including disclosure breaches known as Brady violations — occurs so frequently that it has become one of the chief causes of wrongful conviction.

What’s newsworthy and novel about this plea is that a prosecutor was actually punished in a meaningful way for his transgressions.

I give speeches about the Innocence Movement, and tell stories from real cases, all around the world. No matter where I am, when I finish speaking the first question usually is, “What happened to the police/prosecutors who did this to the poor guy?”

The answer is almost always, “Nothing,” or worse, “The police officer was promoted and now is

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the chief of his department.” The adage that the powerful go unpunished is no truer or more visible than with police officers and prosecutors in America — even when they send innocent people to prison from their misconduct.

My client Roger Dean Gillispie of Dayton, Ohio, for example, spent 20 years in prison as a result of police misconduct. In 2007, we presented overwhelm-

The adage that the powerful go unpunished is no truer or more visible than with police officers and prosecutors in America.” ing evidence that the police officers, like Anderson in the Morton case, failed to turn over evidence to the defense before trial that would have cleared Gillispie. We also supplied the court with evidence that the police officer in charge had harassed and intimidated witnesses helpful to the defense, and had manipulated the evidence. Before going to court to clear Gillispie, we met with the local prosecutors, hopeful that they wouldn’t tolerate such misconduct

AP PHOTO/STATESMAN.COM, RICARDO BRAZZIELL, POOL

Voices

and would do a thorough (and neutral) investigation to get to the truth. Instead, they simply denied everything in knee-jerk fashion, and fought to keep Gillispie in prison until a federal court finally found government misconduct and threw out his charges in December 2011. To this day, the police officer in the case has not been investigated by a neutral, independent body. The only thing he has received is promotions.

Rogue cops and prosecutors going unpunished is the rule rather

MARK GODSEY

HUFFINGTON 11.24-12.01.13

What’s newsworthy and novel about this plea is that a prosecutor was actually punished in a meaningful way for his transgressions.� than the exception. In Illinois, two police officers whose improperly grueling interrogation techniques led to the wrongful conviction of Juan Rivera and others were not penalized when their 3rd degree tactics came to light. Rather, they were recently hired at taxpayer expense to teach interrogation courses to other police officers around the state.

Anderson defends his performance as Williamson County district attorney during a court of inquiry in February.

Voices A recent study found prosecutorial misconduct in nearly one-quarter of all capital cases in Arizona. Only two of those prosecutors have been reprimanded or punished. This led the Arizona Republic to conclude: There seldom are consequences for prosecutors, regardless of whether the miscarriage of justice occurred because of ineptness or misconduct. In fact, they are often congratulated.

Fortunately, there is something very simple that judges across the country can do to eradicate this problem. All judges, state and federal, should issue the standing “ethical rule order” proposed by the Hon. Nancy Gertner and Innocence Project Co-Founder Barry Scheck. The proposed order requires prosecutors to disclose, pre-trial, all evidence that “tends to negate the guilt of the accused or mitigates the offense.” Details regarding the proposed ethical rule order, including all the justifications supporting it, can be found in this article by Barry Scheck.

The reason such standing ethical rule orders are important is that they allow prosecutors, like Ken

MARK GODSEY

HUFFINGTON 11.24-12.01.13

Anderson, to be held in criminal contempt if they are later found to have engaged in misconduct. Anderson could be punished today only because such an order had been issued in the Morton case.

The conviction of Ken Anderson stands out as an extreme aberration in a society where police and prosecutorial misconduct goes largely unpunished. But it is a step in the right direction. Hopefully,

Anderson pled to criminal contempt, and will have to give up his law license, perform 500 hours of community service, and spend 10 days in jail.” this result will deter rogue cops and prosecutors in the future from engaging in similar misconduct.

But this will happen only if judges across the country do what the judge did more than 25 years ago in the Morton case: issue an order requiring that proper disclosure to the defense, or risk criminal contempt proceedings.

Mark Godsey is a law professor and the director of the Ohio Innocence Project.

Voices

QUOTED

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: KEVIN WINTER/GETTY IMAGES; AP PHOTO/THE CANADIAN PRESS, NATHAN DENETTE; JOEL AUERBACH/GETTY IMAGES; DESIREE NAVARRO/WIREIMAGE/GETTY IMAGES

“ She was very clear that nothing would mean anything if I didn’t live a life of use to others.”

HUFFINGTON 11.24-12.01.13

“ How is it that the ‘I’m not perfect’ defense comes into play?

Would it not be more accurate for him to say ‘I’m not normal’?”

— HuffPost commenter edgermanJ

on “Rob Ford, Toronto Mayor, Has Had A Few Regrets.. A Few Denials”

— Angelina Jolie

on her mother, in her acceptance speech for the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 2013 Governors Awards

“ We’re pop icons, and the president likes to use that type of thing just to be down.”

— Kanye West

on how his relationship with President Obama has changed, on Philadelphia station Hot 107.9

“ I think he just misunderstood the requirements of his position as ‘Offensive Lineman’.”

— HuffPost commenter milhouse47 on “Richie Incognito Accused Of Molesting Woman With Golf Club In 2012”

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: AP PHOTO/FILE; SLOBODAN VASIC/GETTY IMAGES; MR.MAN.COM; OLI SCARFF/GETTY IMAGES

Voices

QUOTED

Liz - this isn’t just an issue on which we disagree — you’re just wrong — and on the wrong side of history.

— Mary Cheney,

Dick Cheney’s openly gay daughter, to her sister Liz Cheney on her anti-gay marriage stance

“ We as a nation have consumed poison... And if we don’t vomit it up very quick, we as a country will expire like Nazi Germany.”

— Radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on the corporatist, globalist elite in America, in an interview with New York

HUFFINGTON 11.24-12.01.13

“ Men are allowed to say no too, and women have to accept rejection without recriminations.”

— HuffPost commenter wavevector

on “18 Things Every Woman Should Have Been Told About Sex, But Probably Wasn’t”

“ Gee, who could have seen that happening, other than just about everyone?”

— HuffPost commenter ArtCarnage

on “‘Mr. Skin’ Launches Nudie Site For Women, But Gay Guys Go Crazy For It”

11.24-12.01.13

#76-77

PANTONE IPHONE CASE, $34.95

PANTONE

Surprise your artsavvy friend with a vibrant iPhone case courtesy of the world’s formative authority on color: Pantone.

You know that friend who always seems to know about every cultural thing before anyone else? The kind of friend who is impossible to surprise? We’ve searched high and low (culture, that is) to find the the kind of gifts that will bowl over your little know-it-all (plus a few they’ll already know about for good measure). From a band called Death to a Man Ray chess set, they won’t know what hit them.

—Katherine Brooks, Madeleine Crum, Kia Makarechi and Christopher Rosen

HUFFINGTON 11.24-12.01.13

STRESS-FREE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

TAP IMAGE FOR DESCRIPTION, TAP NAME TO BUY BREAKING BAD: THE COMPLETE SERIES amazon.com

A BAND CALLED DEATH drafthousefilms.com

USB PORTABLE TURNTABLE amazon.com

THE GOLDFINCH amazon.com

HUFFINGTON 11.24-12.01.13

STRESS-FREE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

MAN RAY CHESS SET momastore.org

THE KING OF COMEDY blu-ray.com

CUBE DROP EARRINGS

BY PICO

THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE HER: DELUXE EDITION

guggenheimstore.org

junotdiaz.com

JAMES DEAN ULTIMATE COLLECTORS’ EDITION (BLU-RAY) amazon.com

HUFFINGTON 11.24-12.01.13

STRESS-FREE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

WENDY GEORGE

THE WIZARD OF OZ: 75TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION, $29.99

To celebrate the 75th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz, Warner Bros. has released an all-new Blu-ray package. Features include an array of documentary and supplemental features (an all-new doc on the making of Oz being a real highlight), plus an option for viewers to sing along with the film’s many iconic songs.

HUFFINGTON 11.24-12.01.13

STRESS-FREE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

LICHTENSTEIN SCULPTOR rizzoliusa.com

JOHN BALDESSARI BEACH TOWEL newmuseumstore.org

RAYMOND PETTIBON NOTE CARD SET: BLACK FLAG mocastore.myshopify.com

THE WES ANDERSON COLLECTION

JFK 50 YEAR COMMEMORATIVE ULTIMATE COLLECTOR’S EDITION (BLU-RAY)

amazon.com

amazon.com

WENDY GEORGE

BALL AMERICAN HERITAGE COLLECTION PINT JARS, WITH CANNING LIFTER & FUNNEL, $32 You know what everyone’s doing right now? Pickling, preserving and canning (yes, seriously). This set provides everything you need to do the job (in style, we might add), and you’ll save your friend endless trips hunting for the hard-to-find jars.

Shopping for food lovers is no easy task: They’re known for collecting every cookbook and tool they desire, all on their own. So here’s the secret: Give the gifts they didn’t even know they wanted, special items that go beyond the everyday necessities. Whether it’s a set of sparkling aqua canning jars, a stunning coffee table book of food photography, or the classic stand mixer on everyone’s dream wish list, we’ve got just the right picks for your favorite food-loving friend. — Kristen Aiken

HUFFINGTON 11.24-12.01.13

STRESS-FREE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

TAP IMAGE FOR DESCRIPTION, TAP NAME TO BUY KOBENSTYLE CASSEROLE momastore.org

NEW KEURIG RIVO keurig.com

LUCKY PEACH 1-YEAR SUBSCRIPTION store.lky.ph

COLLAPSIBLE SALAD SPINNER momastore.org

15-INCH TRADITIONAL STEEL PAELLA PAN tienda.com

HUFFINGTON 11.24-12.01.13

STRESS-FREE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF MODERNIST CUISINE barnesandnoble.com

DRYWELL MEAT AND COCKTAIL PRINTS

KRUPS WINE DISPENSER & PRESERVER

shop.drywellart.com

crateandbarrel.com

KITCHENAID PRO LINE CORDLESS IMMERSION BLENDER williams-sonoma.com

INDUSTRIAL KITCHEN-AID STAND MIXER WITH A GLASS BOWL williams-sonoma.com

COMPLETE ATECO CAKE TOOLS food52.com

BEATS BY DR. DRE

It’s nearly December — which means it’s time to satisfy the gearheads in your life with beautiful, cutting-edge pieces of technology. But when you’re looking for both style and function, gadgets can be hard to find and even harder to choose between.

From touchscreen-friendly wool gloves to sleek pocketable projectors, we have some gorgeous gadgets for show ahead. —Betsy Issacson

REDESIGNED BEATS HEADPHONES, $299.95 Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine’s house of trend-ready music delivery products continues to dominate its market, and this year’s completely redesigned Beats Studio headphones are sure to toss even more lighter fluid on that flame. With a rechargeable battery that activates noise-canceling technology as soon as you plug in the cable and turns it off as soon as you unplug it, these cans are sure to impress.

HUFFINGTON 11.24-12.01.13

STRESS-FREE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

TAP IMAGE FOR DESCRIPTION, TAP NAME TO BUY HDMI POCKET PROJECTOR brookstone.com

THE TILE APP thetileapp.com

TOUCHSCREEN-FRIENDLY WOOL GLOVES etreshop.com

BONZART LIT CAMERA acgears.com

Q CARD CASE cm4.com

HUFFINGTON 11.24-12.01.13

STRESS-FREE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

SATECHI TOUCH USB LED LAMP KIT, $24.99

SATECHI

Ever saved an empty bottle because it was just too pretty to toss? Now you can turn that bottle into a softly glowing lamp with the Satechi Touch USB LED Lamp kit.

Easy for even non-DIYers, the kits are also relatively inexpensive.

HUFFINGTON 11.24-12.01.13

STRESS-FREE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

FITBIT FORCE fitbit.com

GOLDIEBLOX ENGINEERING TOY KIT goldieblox.com

OPEN EAR HEADPHONES thinkgeek.com

MOTO X motorola.com

CANDY-COLORED POWER TUBE thek3company.com

UNBREAKABLE IPHONE SCREEN PROTECTOR bitemyapple.com

ANTHROPOLOGIE

The holidays are a time to spend with your closest family and friends. So we suggest you show — not tell — your loved ones just how much you appreciate them with these unique, personalized gifts. Shopping for the ultimate fashionista? The selective tastemaker? How about the dapper man in your life? We’ve made it easy for you by rounding up stylish gifts for every person on your list. Trust us, nothing says “love” like knowing those closest to you hold your taste in such high esteem. Happy shopping! — Rebecca Adams and Michelle Persad

DOTTY MATCH APRON ($32) Forget your standard hostess gifts and give someone the gift of looking stylish while entertaining.

HUFFINGTON 11.24-12.01.13

STRESS-FREE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

TAP IMAGE FOR DESCRIPTION, TAP NAME TO BUY J. CREW MONTAGUE WEEKENDER jcrew.com

BEARD OIL shop.mcmcfragrances.com

INSTANT ARCHES instantarches.com

SLEEPY JONES MARINA PAJAMA SHIRT

TOM TOM TRIPLE V CUFF

sleepyjones.com

tomtomjewelry.com

HUFFINGTON 11.24-12.01.13

STRESS-FREE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

KOOSTIK AMBROSIA MAPLE IPHONE DOCK

FJALLRAVEN ORSA SWEATER fjallraven.us

koostik.com

CARVEN SKIRT net-a-porter.com

BYREDO ‘BOHEMIA’ CANDLE

S.W. BASICS BODY SCRUB

byredo.com

store.swbasicsofbk.com

COLE HAAN GRANT SCUFF SLIPPERS colehaan.com

ALEXIS BITTAR PIN alexisbittar.com

WENDY GEORGE (TUMI CASES, TAGS); STOOSTOCK.DEVIANTART.COM (BACKGROUND)

This year, instead of the usual non-necessities, why don’t you give the traveler in your life something they might actually need on the road? Who hasn’t gotten soaked in a rain spell and needed to air out their clothes? Why wouldn’t you want an on-the-go charger for your phone just in case? Who else wants to treasure their vacation photos using Instagram-like filters in actual print form?

These tried-and-true gifts will come in handy for all versions of travels, whether it’s a backpacking excursion, a road trip, or a luxury city outing. — HuffPost Travel Editors

TRAVEL CASE, $125 When a legendary luggage company and a legendary New York apothecary team up, you know things will be good.

For their second collaboration, Tumi and malin + goetz are producing his and hers toiletry kits, each with the usual: shampoo, conditioner, face cleanser & moisturizer and body wash (the men’s has shaving cream, the women’s has body lotion). TUMI.COM

HUFFINGTON 11.24-12.01.13

STRESS-FREE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

TAP IMAGE FOR DESCRIPTION, TAP NAME TO BUY

IWALK IWALKUSA.COM

RACE CYCLING DUFFEL BAG

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: COURTESY OF IWALK; COURTESY OF TIMBUK2;COURTESY OF REI; COURTESY OF PRINTSTAGRAM; COURTESY OF FLIGHT 001

TIMBUK2.COM

MINI JAMBOX JAWBONE.COM

4-IN-1 ADAPTER FLIGHT001.COM

PRINTSTAGRAM PRINTSTAGR.AM

REI CLOTHESLINE REI.COM

WENDY GEORGE

This year’s hottest toys mix up old-school fun with ultra-new features. From classic characters with modern bells and whistles and triedand-true childhood favorites to a music station made for 2013 kids, here are our picks for every little one on your list. — Farah Miller

HELLO KITTY AIRLINES PLAY SET, $39.99 Little imaginations will take flight on this adorable jet. Includes a cute carry-on, mealtime set and a mini passport for stamping fun. Ages 4 and up. KOHLS.COM

HUFFINGTON 11.24-12.01.13

STRESS-FREE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

TAP IMAGE FOR DESCRIPTION, TAP NAME TO BUY PAINT YOUR OWN RAINBOOTS

METKIDS (PAINT YOUR OWN RAINBOOTS,TETRIS LINK, THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR ROCKER AND GIFT SET); PLAYSKOOL (SESAME STREET BIG HUGS ELMO); VTECH (KIDIJAMZ STUDIO); JUST PLAY (DOC MCSTUFFINS DELUXE GET BETTER CHECKUP CENTER)

METMUSEUM.ORG

TETRIS LINK METMUSEUM.ORG

THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR ROCKER AND GIFT SET

SESAME STREET BIG HUGS ELMO TOYSRUS.COM

METMUSEUM.ORG

VTECH KIDIJAMZ STUDIO

DOC MCSTUFFINS DELUXE GET BETTER CHECKUP CENTER

KOHLS.COM

TOYSRUS.COM

’Tis always the season for sports.

With modern fans as attuned to offfield drama as on-court action, the wide world of sports never stops spinning. From gear and gadgets to newsworthy reads and pocketsized nostalgia, sports gifts come in every price range and for fans of all types and uniform stripes.

— Chris Greenberg

WENDY GEORGE

CLASSIC SPORTS BOOKS, PRICES VARY For the intellectual fan on your team, sports books are the go-to gift. From time-capsule classics like The Boys of Summer and Rockin’ Steady to recent releases like League Of Denial, the sports shelf has something for everyone.

HUFFINGTON 11.24-12.01.13

STRESS-FREE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

TAP IMAGE FOR DESCRIPTION, TAP NAME TO BUY

STARTER JACKET FOOTLOCKER.COM

ESPN’S NINE FOR IX DOCUMENTARY GIFT SET

ESPN (ESPN‘S NINE); STARTER (STARTER JACKET); GO PRO (GO PRO CAMERA); LAYNE MURDOCH/NBAE VIA GETTY IMAGES (NBA LEAGUE PASS); AP PHOTO/PAUL KAZDAN (SUPERBOWL); WENDY GEORGE (TRADING CARDS)

AMAZON.COM

NBA LEAGUE PASS NBA.COM

GOPRO CAMERA GOPRO.COM

SUPERBOWL PACKAGE SITES VARY

VINTAGE TRADING CARDS SITES VARY

AP PHOTO/SONY - COLUMBIA PICTURES

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BEHIND THE SCENES

HUFFINGTON 11.24-12.01.13

Why Are There Suddenly So Many Movies About Somali Pirates?

BY MALLIKA RAO

FTER ARMED MEN off the Nigerian coast took two seafarers hostage last month, CNN declared the Gulf of Guinea the new

A

“piracy hotspot” — second to the Somali coast, but catching up.

As usual, Hollywood is one step behind. On the silver screen, it’s boom time for a brand new genre: the Somali pirate movie.

There’s the high-profile Captain Phillips, a dramatization of

From left to right: Mahat Ali, Tom Hanks and Faysal Ahmed star in Captain Phillips.

AP PHOTO/SONY - COLUMBIA PICTURES, JASIN BOLAND

Exit the 2009 Navy Seal rescue of an American cargo ship, starring Tom Hanks as the titular captain. Then there’s the slow-burning Danish import, A Hijacking, aka “the Somali pirate movie without Tom Hanks.” Two recent documentaries — Stolen Seas and The Project — tackle Somali piracy specifically. A feature version of an awardwinning short about Somali pirates, Fishing Without Nets, is in the works, as is High Value Target, a “high concept” action movie about yet another U.S. Special Ops team defeating yet another band of Somali pirates.

“It’s a perfect storyline, commercially speaking,” says Cyrus Mody, assistant director of the International Maritime Bureau, which tracks and publicizes piracy statistics worldwide.

Modern piracy dates to the 1970s, when East Asian fishermen began to systematically attack Vietnamese refugees to Thailand. The Internet has enabled news of more recent attacks to travel farther, and the news is worse now, Mody says.

Since 2008, the IMB has found that Somali pirates are brutalizing hostages more often and for longer stretches, for reasons observers aren’t able to pinpoint.

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HUFFINGTON 11.24-12.01.13

Modern pirates tend to be poor young men employed by drug lords... Their victims — if they escape at all — return traumatized, with tales better fit for a horror movie than a thriller.”

That brutality has since captivated Hollywood. “There’s a sort of a natural time period that it takes for a big news story to turn into a film,” says Bruce Nash, founder of the movie consultancy firm Nash Information Services.

Columbia Pictures, for example, snatched the rights to the 2009 hijacking mere months after it happened, but it took two more years before the real Captain Phillips wrote the memoir on which the movie is based.

Modern pirates tend to be poor

From left to right: Faysal Ahmed, Barkhad Abdi, Barkhad Abdirahman and Mahat Ali portray Somali pirates in Captain Phillips, a retelling of the 2009 Navy seal rescue.

© 2013 - MAGNOLIA PICTURES

Exit young men employed by drug lords. They hail from countries with crumbling governments, like Somalia. Their victims — if they escape at all — return traumatized, with tales better fit for a horror movie than a thriller: stories of hacked-off limbs and being hung naked from meat hooks in a ship’s freezer.

As a result, the movies based on these events aren’t the charming swashbuckling romances of old, part of a genre that’s been around since Douglas Fairbanks Sr. sliced his ship’s sails in the 1926 silent film The Black Pirate. Say the word “pirate” today, and “finally, not everyone thinks of Johnny Depp,” Mody says.

Of course, what he calls “movieness” still pervades Hollywood depictions of real-world events. Captain Phillips has been criticized for glossing over complicating facts and valorizing the U.S. Navy. And — as in the case of A Hijacking, which is also based on a true story — it tackles an incident that ended in a relatively happy ending, as far as piracy goes.

But when it comes to telling all sides of a complicated story, a glut of movies is promising for its potential diversity. “There are

BEHIND THE SCENES

HUFFINGTON 11.24-12.01.13

There are some things you can’t do with a mass-market film, in terms of giving the bad guys nuance, whereas you can with a low-budget film.” some things you can’t do with a mass-market film, in terms of giving the bad guys nuance, whereas you can with a low-budget film,” Nash says. Fishing Without Nets, for example, will be told from the perspective of the pirates.

Mody says each of these movies is fresh because we rarely see things from a seafarer’s point of view, either pirate or captive. “The life the seafarer faces is one of solitude and not being connected,” he says. “It’s a life of being out of sight and out of mind.”

Pilou Asbæk appears in the 2012 film, A Hijacking, about a Danish cargo ship hijacked

by Somali pirates.

HUFFINGTON 11.24-12.01.13

MICHAEL BUCKNER/WIREIMAGE/GETTY IMAGES

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THE THIRD METRIC

One Hollywood Producer’s Scheme to Tell Stories With a Message

BY ANN BRENOFF

IM KRING had made it in Hollywood and was in that rare place where his financial security allowed him to choose jobs that had meaning for him. Yet

T

Kring, the creator of TV’s Crossing Jordan, Touch and Heroes, also knew all about how Hollywood regarded programming that came with a social message. He quotes the line attributed to MGM head Sam Goldwyn years ago: If you want to send a message, call Western Union.

Hollywood producer Tim Kring created Conspiracy for Good to make a difference in the entertainment industry.

Exit Hollywood has always been about the bottom line, Kring said, and shows that come bearing a social message — well, they don’t always draw the audience, or the dollars. Still, Kring recalls, he had an itch to do something more — to use his talents for storytelling in a way that could actually help people.

For Kring, 56, the turning point came on the day after 9/11 — 12 years ago. At the time, he was in production with the first season of Crossing Jordan, a show about a group of misfits who work in a morgue.

Production on the show halted on the day of the attacks. “But we were asked to go back to work the very next day,” he recounted. “We had one single day to absorb this tragedy. So we stumbled back to work in a fog, and I remember being struck by the sudden contrast of creating what felt like meaningless fiction when the world was plunged into such stark reality,” he said.

“It was just hard to care about an episode of TV, with actors pretending to be people they weren’t,” he recalled, “dealing in emotions that were only make believe, when so many people

THE THIRD METRIC

HUFFINGTON 11.24-12.01.13

were facing the devastating truth of human suffering.”

Kring knew that as a soughtafter Hollywood producer, he carried a large megaphone. “But I didn’t want to preach,” he said. “I had no particular cause or political statement I wanted to make. I just had a need to say something — to respond somehow to the tragedy of 9/11 in some way.” He sat down and wrote an episode

I remember being struck by the sudden contrast of creating what felt like meaningless fiction when the world was plunged into such stark reality.” of the show called “Miracles and Wonders.” It was about a daisy chain of events that connected a group of people’s lives in ways that appeared to be random, but weren’t random at all. The episode became his writing blueprint for the next dozen years.

“I had stumbled onto the one theme that I wanted to talk about — our interconnectivity,” he explained. “This sense that we are

ROOM TO READ/IAN MURPHY

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all connected, all facets of the same existence — shining and reflecting in and upon each other.”

He knew he wanted to keep telling stories — and to do so in a way that kept the best of Hollywood — but he needed them to be in the service of something bigger. And so Kring created the Conspiracy For Good, an interactive multimedia platform where the audience becomes part of the story and the end result is a real-life social benefit.

With the first Conspiracy For

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I didn’t want to preach.

I had no particular cause or political statement I wanted to make. I just had a need to say something.”

Good launch, he incorporated mobile apps and games, music downloads, Twitter, and live performance art in which people gathered in public spaces — including London’s Tate Museum.

In the story plot, recording artist Nadirah X took a break from her career to devote herself to building a library in Africa. But the

A library in Zambia established

by Room to Read, a nonprofit literacy program supported by Conspiracy for Good.

Exit funds she raised mysteriously disappeared, the books shipped from London didn’t arrive, a trusted friend was found dead and an evil multinational corporation emerged as the game’s villain. Through tweets, puzzles, mobile games and live performance art in five countries, the audience hunted for clues to resolve the conflict.

Ultimately, good trumps evil, and the real-life corporate sponsors, including Nokia and the NGO WeGiveBooks.org, released the funds to build and stock five libraries in rural eastern Zambia, contribute 10,000 books and donate 50 scholarships to girls — slickly blending the line between fiction and real life. Participants in the multimedia platform numbered in the millions which, in Hollywood parlance, translated into a very good box office opening.

For Kring, it was proof that Hollywood fantasy and real-life impact can coexist. He counts among his heroes Jeff Skoll, the former eBay president who went on to found Participant Media, which has produced movies such as Syriana, An Inconvenient Truth and Good Night and Good Luck. As Skoll has said of his own

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mission, “I just wanted to make good quality films that were about something and not worry so much about whether they were successful commercially or not. And they’ve done just fine commercially — clearly there is an audience for this kind of thing.”

Kring, who lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children, has always had a streak of social activism. And given his

I had stumbled onto the one theme that I wanted to talk about — our interconnectivity.” determination to upend Hollywood’s cynical prevailing wisdom — that programs about something are predestined for financial failure — it’s possible to see Kring himself as a character in a larger story, fighting for a vision of Hollywood that values impact alongside profit.

“The business of show business is so dominant to the whole idea of what gets made,” Kring said, “that business will always be at the heart of it. You have to figure out how to sneak a message into the storytelling.”

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EAT THIS

HUFFINGTON 11.24-12.01.13

Thanksgiving Sides Like You’ve Never Seen Them

BY KRISTEN AIKEN

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EAT THIS

HUFFINGTON 11.24-12.01.13

HANKSGIVING is a holiday of traditions, but if we’re honest with you, it gets boring to eat the same old turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes every year. We’re making a twofold attempt at mixing it up this year.

First, we’re on a mission to jam-pack the Thanksgiving menu with as many avocado recipes as we can, because seriously — why don’t we eat avocados at Thanksgiving? Secondly, we’ve taken advantage of Thanksgivukkah to create some groundbreaking new recipes that combine the flavors of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah in one delicious bite. Bon appetit!

T

GUACAMOLE WITH FRENCH-FRIED ONIONS

PREVIOUS PAGE: KRISTEN AIKEN

BY KRISTEN AIKEN

Despite our deep affection for avocados, for some reason they’ve just never gotten a fair shake on Thanksgiving Day. We’re here to change that. Just as vital as the turkey is the all-important Thanksgiving snack. It keeps our blood-sugar levels in check and prevents us from wigging out on our loved ones while we’re waiting for the turkey to come out of the oven. This guacamole gets a Thanksgiving twist, with a little inspiration from the classic green bean casserole. Salty French-fried onions are the perfect topping for fresh guacamole — give this one a try.

INGREDIENTS ■ 6 ripe avocados, cubed ■ 1 small yellow onion, finely diced ■ 1 clove garlic, minced ■ 1 jalapeño, minced ■ ¼ cup pomegranate seeds (optional) ■ 1 tsp ground cumin ■ ¼ tsp cayenne pepper ■ ¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped ■ 2 tsp salt ■ 1 lime, halved ■ 1 ½ cups store-bought, French-fried onions DIRECTIONS 1. I n a mixing bowl, combine avocados, onion, garlic, jalapeño, pomegranate seeds (if using), cumin, cayenne and salt. Mash until you get your desired consistency.

2. J uice both halves of the lime over the avocado mixture, and stir to combine.

3. If you’re saving the guacamole to serve later in the day, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and press it down so it’s touching the surface of the guacamole (this will prevent it from turning brown.) Refrigerate.

4. W hen ready to serve, sprinkle the top of the guacamole with the French-fried onions. Serve with tortilla chips.

We’re on a mission to jam-pack the Thanksgiving menu with as many avocado recipes as we can, because seriously — why don’t we eat avocados at Thanksgiving?”

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EAT THIS

GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE ­ WITH SCHMALTZ AND GRIBENES REBECCA ORCHANT

BY REBECCA ORCHANT

Green bean casserole is a must-have on our Thanksgiving table. We like to church it up a little by making our own cream of mushroom sauce, and for Thanksgivukkah we’re giving it another extra-special twist. As garlic and tomatoes are to Italian cooking and onion, celery and bell pepper are to Cajun cooking, schmaltz and gribenes are to Jewish cooking.

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Schmaltz is chicken fat, and it’s the preferred cooking fat for most traditional Jewish dishes (both matzoh balls and chopped liver are a shadow of themselves without it). This green bean casserole incorporates both silky, rendered schmaltz and the crispy, impossible-to-stop-snacking-on fried chicken skin bits that result from making it — gribenes (pronounced grib-eh-ness).

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INGREDIENTS ■ Skin of 1 chicken (you can either get this by buying a whole chicken and taking off the skin, or you can ask your butcher for them — sometimes they’ll give them to you free of charge) ■ 1 ½ lbs green beans, trimmed, blanched in salted water until fork-tender and chopped into 1-inch pieces ■ ½ lb cremini mushrooms, roughly chopped ■ ¼ lb shiitake mushrooms, roughly chopped ■ 2 Tbsp butter ■ 2 tsp schmaltz ■ 3 shallots, diced ■ 1 Tbsp fresh thyme, minced ■ 2 Tbsp flour ■ ½ cup dry white wine ■ 1 cup chicken stock ■ ¼ cup heavy cream ■ Fried onions (any kind you like, but we used Onion Crunch) ■ Salt and pepper

This green bean casserole incorporates both silky, rendered schmaltz and the crispy, impossibleto-stopsnacking-on fried chicken skin bits that result from making it.”

EAT THIS

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DIRECTIONS FOR THE SCHMALTZ AND GRIBENES: 1. C ut your chicken skin into 1-inch, bite-sized pieces. The easiest way to do this is to chill the fat in the freezer for a few minutes so it firms up, and then just whack at it with kitchen shears, right into a cold skillet.

2. C ook the skin and fat over low heat, until the fat starts to melt and the skins start to sizzle. Bump the heat up slightly to medium-low, and cook until the gribenes are brown and crispy — some recipes will tell you this takes 15-20 minutes, and that is a lie. It took us 45 minutes to get brown, crispy skins over medium-low heat. Patience is worth it.

3. Once your gribenes are done, strain the skins and fat through a fine mesh strainer, set over a bowl. Reserve the schmaltz (you can keep it in a jar in the fridge for two weeks).

Season the gribenes with salt, and let them drain on paper towels.

FOR THE CASSEROLE: 1. P re-heat your oven to 375 degrees. Melt butter and schmaltz over medium-high heat in a deep, heavy-bottomed pan. Add shallots, 1/2 tsp salt and cook until the shallots are soft and translucent. Add the mushrooms and thyme and cook until the mushrooms have released most of their liquid and the pan is starting to dry out.

2. A dd flour, stir to coat vegetables, and cook until it starts to smell a little nutty, 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently. Slowly whisk in the white wine, stirring constantly so you don’t get any lumps. Whisk in the chicken stock, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and let the mixture thicken up for a few minutes — it should be thicker than soup, more like a gravy. Remove from the heat and stir in heavy cream. Taste it, and season with salt and pepper.

3. I n a 9’’x13’’ baking dish, combine the green beans and the mushroom gravy. Top with gribenes and fried onions, and bake uncovered for 20 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling and it’s heated through.

Do-ahead: You can make the schmaltz and gribenes (store the schmaltz in the fridge and the gribenes in an air-tight container at room temperature), mushroom gravy, and blanch the green beans up to 2 days in advance. Store them separately and combine just before baking.

EAT THIS

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MUSIC

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MUSIC

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