Tonight's guests are Benedict Cumberbatch on The Daily Show and Eva Longoria on The Colbert Report.
Benedict Cumberbatch is an English actor and producer best known for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in the series Sherlock. Tonight he is on to promote the movie
The Imitation Game
English mathematician and logician, Alan Turing, helps crack the Enigma code during World War II.
On the list of individuals whose work has created our modern world, Turing is at the top. The way he was treated despite being one of the most brilliant people to ever walk this planet is just horrific.
Turing was prosecuted in 1952 for homosexual acts, when such behaviour was still criminalised in the UK. He accepted treatment with oestrogen injections (chemical castration) as an alternative to prison. Turing died in 1954, 16 days before his 42nd birthday, from cyanide poisoning wiki
The movie is getting Oscar buzz, which is great news, I think that Turing and Tesla as well need to be as well known to people as Einstein because both men really helped to build the foundation that our interconnected world runs on.
Eva Longoria is an "Actress, Activist, and Philanthropist." She is best known for her role as Gabrielle Solis in Desperate Housewives and is on tonight to promote the documentary
Food Chains
There is so much interest in food these days yet there is almost no interest in the hands that pick that food. In the US, farm labor has always been one of the most difficult and poorly paid jobs and has relied on some of the nation's most vulnerable people. While the legal restrictions which kept people bound to farms, like slavery, have been abolished, exploitation still exists, ranging from wage theft to modern-day slavery. These days, this exploitation is perpetuated by the corporations at the top of the food chain: supermarkets. Their buying power has kept wages pitifully low and has created a scenario where desperately poor people are willing to put up with anything to keep their jobs.
In this exposé, an intrepid group of Florida farmworkers battle to defeat the $4 trillion global supermarket industry through their ingenious Fair Food program, which partners with growers and retailers to improve working conditions for farm laborers in the United States.
There is more interest in food these days than ever, yet there is very little interest in the hands that pick it. Farmworkers, the foundation of our fresh food industry, are routinely abused and robbed of wages. In extreme cases they can be beaten, sexually harassed or even enslaved – all within the borders of the United States.
Food Chains reveals the human cost in our food supply and the complicity of large buyers of produce like fast food and supermarkets. Fast food is big, but supermarkets are bigger – earning $4 trillion globally. They have tremendous power over the agricultural system. Over the past 3 decades they have drained revenue from their supply chain leaving farmworkers in poverty and forced to work under subhuman conditions. Yet many take no responsibility for this.
The narrative of the film focuses on an intrepid and highly lauded group of tomato pickers from Southern Florida – the Coalition of Immokalee Workers or CIW – who are revolutionizing farm labor. Their story is one of hope and promise for the triumph of morality over corporate greed – to ensure a dignified life for farm workers and a more humane, transparent food chain.
Food Chains premiered at the 2014 Berlin Film Festival and screened subsequently at the Tribeca Film Festival and Guadalajara Film Festival. Food Chains will be released nationwide November 21st. The film’s Executive Producers include Eva Longoria and Eric Schlosser.
foodchainsfilm.com
Food Chains Teaser from Sanjay Rawal on Vimeo.
This sounds like an interesting documentary, Democracy Now has followed the story of the CIW and it is an amazing story (if you want to learn more search for Coalition of Immokalee Workers on the Democracy Now website.) Big corporations will spend millions just to make sure the price of a tomato does not go up by a few cents because if tomato pickers win, people at all levels might demand a fair wage, and that would be bad for the bottom line.
This Week's Guests
THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART
We 11/19: Jessica Chastain
Th 11/20: Eddie Redmayne
THE COLBERT REPORT
We 11/19: Toni Morrison
Th 11/20: Jon Stewart
The week of Thanksgiving (11/24-11/27) they are taking off but will return Monday 12/1.