Welcome.

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This is a portfolio. Contained within are several pieces – real and fictional, published and unpublished – written by Lee Jenkins. Pieces written for educational or recreational purposes will be marked “Writing Exercise” and unpublished pieces will be marked “Unpublished.” This wordpress is intended to showcase some of Lee Jenkins’ work, both for potential employers and any other interested parties.

Film Analysis

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Film Analysis – The Lego Movie

Characters: The Lego movie has a robust cast featuring no less than nine principle characters (eleven if you count the two human characters). Of those nine, you have Emmett as your protagonist, Lord Business as your antagonist, Vetruvius as the mentor, Good Cop/Bad Cop as the dragon/antagonist’s right-hand man, Wyldstyle as the sidekick/love interest, Metal Beard and Batman as the skeptics, and Benny and Unikitty as the emotional characters. Of the eight character roles listed by editor/writer Tim Stout, The Lego Movie represents all but one – the logical character. Stout’s roles are hardly the definitive categories for characters in regards to their role in the plot, but in them you can find elements shared by many other character archetypes. All in all, the cast is adequately designed as far as good storytelling is concerned.

In the movie itself, the characters play off of each other wonderfully. Emmett goes from hero to zero but retains his humility and good-naturedness throughout, Wyldstyle warms to Emmett but remains competent, Lord Business eventually undergoes a heel-face turn that aligns perfectly with the movie’s meta-narrative about a father learning to accept his son’s and his own creative drive. The rest of the supporting cast is delightfully humorous and wholly distinct throughout, from Benny’s obsession with spaceships and Batman’s arrogance and otherwise abrasive personality to Unikitty’s anger management issues and Vetruvius’ “alternative lifestyles” and blindness.

Themes: The central theme of the movie is ultimately a bit tired, the cliched “be your self” bit, but it’s delivered in an interesting way. From the get-go, Emmett is presented as an empty shell of a person, consuming media and interacting with the world around him as the instruction booklets he receives tell him to. Over the course of the movie, he discovers a creative spark and goes on to share with other people suffering from a fate similar to his. They go on to create their own inventions and contraptions. It’s a family flick, so it’s understandable the writers and directors would go with something safe.

Plot: The plot follows the Hero’s Journey almost step by step. You begin with Emmett enjoying a completely ordinary, nondescript life as laid out in his instruction booklets (step one), before discovering the piece of resistance after work one day (step two). From there, he’s capture by Lord Business’ men then freed by Wyldstyle. Abhorred by all the rules he’s breaking, he resists, but has to trudge forward anyway since Lord Business would surely melt him if he could (step three). He meets with Vetruvius, a master builder who tries to unlock the secrets of his mind and proclaims him “The Special,” or the Chosen One (step four).

He travels to Cloud Cuckooland, a world free from the meticulous tyranny of Lord Business (step five). There, he meets with the other assembled master builders and attempts to thwart Business’ plan to end the world using “The Kragle” (Krazy Glue) before bungling his speech entirely and leading Business’ goons straight to the master builders (step six). After falling to the bottom of the sea, he and what few allies he has left devise a plot to infiltrate Lord Business’ supertower, relying on Emmett’s entirely mundane and methodical approach to making things to get them through (step seven). They infiltrate the tower successfully, but Emmett is flung from the tower window and falls into the void (step eight). He’s picked up by the Man Upstairs, becoming a master builder (step nine). He attempts to return to his hometown to vanquish Lord Business once and for all (step ten). He talks down Lord Business and seals the Kragle, which will supposedly cause a huge explosion (step eleven). Afterwards, he and Lord Business go about de-Kragling all of the frozen people (step twelve). It’s incredibly formulaic, but the novelty of the setting and the overall humor of the movie distracts from that aspect. More importantly, it works.

Conflicts: The primary conflict is between Emmett and Lord Business. Lord Business wants to freeze the world because he’s the persona of an anal-retentive father, and Emmett is just an ordinary guy who gets caught up in something greater and understandably doesn’t want the world to get frozen. There’s tension between Emmett, Wyldstyle and Batman as part of a love triangle, but little beyond that. It’s resolve peaceably enough. Not much to say about it, really.

Three Act Structure: The movie has three clear acts, with the second one being the longest. Act one runs from the movie’s start until Emmett picks up the piece of the resistance. Act two sees him fall off of the tower after nearly defeating Lord Business. Act three has him return as a master builder. Act 2 has two low points, but Emmett does not gain any particular skills after the first one, which is more of a subversive take on the structure than anything else.

Climax/Resolution: The Climax involves Emmett entering Lord Business’ supercube and placing the piece of resistance on the Kragle. Lord Business undergoes a heel-face turn after Emmett tells him he, too, can be special in his own way, and the father and son that are orchestrating the whole thing through a battle over LEGO reconcile in the process. The Resolution sees the father clean everything up with the son’s help, and Lord Business do the same with Emmett.

Controversy Over Queen Anne’s Revenge Continues

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Florida-based marine research and recovery corporation Intersal has sued the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources over rights to the Queen Anne’s Revenge after withdrawing a similar case from the Office of Administrative Hearings in June. Lee Jenkins has more on the lawsuit and what led up to it.

Since Intersal discovered the Queen Anne’s Revenge in 1996 and negotiated the rights to it in 1998, it’s had frequent disputes with the Department of Cultural Resources over who’s entitled to what – the ‘what’ being any treasure excavated from the wreck and replicas, images, videos, and other intellectual property produced as a result of the discovery.  Intersal Chairman John Masters says the 1998 deal went down like this:

“Intersal made the deal with the state in 1998 in which Intersal traded our rights to three quarters of any treasure found on the QAR. We traded that to the state of North Carolina in return for exclusive media and replica rights.”

The agreement didn’t last. In 2013, DCR refused to renew the agreement and Intersal brought it before North Carolina’s Office of Administrative Hearings. That led to a settlement where Intersal and DCR shared media and replica rights. Now, Intersal claims DCR failed to uphold the settlement by involving other media groups.

“Intersal originally traded its right to profit from the shipwreck in return for the media and replica rights. In 2013, DCR entered into a contract with the Friends of the Queen Anne’s Revenge, and that group entered into a contract with independent media companies.”

DCR has declined to comment on the matter, but released a statement saying that they do not believe they violated the settlement. Intersal says they originally hoped to resolve the matter with the Office of Administrative Hearings, but went on to file their lawsuit when the state contested the OAH’s authority to handle breach of contract issues.

“OAH has heard many of those kinds of cases before. It seems apparent that the AG’s office and DCR were more interested in making new case law than resolving the issues with Intersal.”

So, Intersal is suing the DCR for over eight million dollars in damages. Masters says Intersal determined the amount based on previous dealings with their Fayetteville-based media partner Nautilus Productions.

“In the agreement that we signed, DCR paid our video designee, Nautilus Productions, $3000 for each image violation that they committed, and Nautilus production currently charges $150 per second.”

A picture is worth a few thousand dollars here and Intersal claims DCR posted over 2,000 in breach of contract. Other claims levied against DCR include demonstrating a conflict of interest and holding Intersal’s media partner Nautilus to arbitrarily higher standards compared to other DCR affiliates. DCR has declined to comment on either issue. Masters says the conflict of interest stems from the composition and spending of the not-for-profit Friends of the Queen Anne’s Revenge.

“The Friends of the Queen Anne’s Revenge entered into a contract with an independent media company and as part of this contract the spouse of the treasurer of the Friends who was also, at the same time, the director of the Underwater Archaeology branch overseeing the Queen Anne’s Revenge project, she received $10,000 to develop educational lesson plans that were already in existence.”

As for higher standards, Intersal says DCR required Nautilus co-founder Rick Allen to take a swim test following an accident, an evidently unprecedented demand. Nautilus is not involved in the current lawsuit, however. As for Intersal’s other project, the search for the treasure-laden wreck of the El Salvador, CEO David Reeder says legislature proposed by DCR could thwart any arrangements similar to the 1998 memorandum of agreement.

“That amendment is going to affect a lot more people than just us.”

The amendment in question says any images, footage, or documents pertaining to derelict shipwrecks are public records when in the custody of state agencies. In other words, the photos are public property and cannot be altered, while Interal’s contract states photos must be watermarked and timecoded to discourage commercial reproduction.

“It’s an amazing coincidence that this amendment happened to be tacked on to the bill in the same timeframe as our lawsuit was filed.”

The bill wouldn’t affect the QAR agreement if it passes. I’m Lee Jenkins.

Duke Energy Announces Coal Ash Cleanup Plan

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Residents across the state have complained about coal ash ponds for months. From contaminating Goldsboro groundwater to leaking 50,000 tons of ash into the Dan River, some ponds clearly pose a problem. Upper Neuse Riverkeeper Matthew Star says Goldsboro’s now-defunct H.F. Lee plant is one such site.

“There’s been a number of residents around the H.F. Lee facility who’ve been told ‘Do not drink your water. Do not cook with it. Your water is contaminated.’ And it’s contaminated with some really scary substances like hexavalent chromium and vanadium.”

Arsenic has seeped into the groundwater near the ponds, too – sometimes in concentrations 60 times higher than the state standard. In accordance with Coal Ash Management Act of 2014, Duke Energy has announced its plan to excavate twelve ash ponds across the state. Company spokesperson Jeff Brooks says the company will be relocating the ash at H.F. Lee to a retired clay mine in Lee County.

“We’re going to line this clay mine with multiple layers of natural and synthetic barriers and then we’ll store that coal ash dry inside that structural fill and then use that to be able to potentially reclaim that land for other purposes.

Brooks says the new basins were designed with security in mind. Duke Energy has begun installing several protective layers to the mine, along with a moisture collection system at the bottom. The company plans to extensively monitor groundwater around the basin as well.

“We believe it’s an effective solution that recycles that ash and we can use it for a beneficial purpose as well.”

Down East Coal Ash Coalition member Mindy Robinson says that, while getting the ash out of Goldsboro is a start, there are better solutions than just shipping it somewhere else.

“It’s pretty much just going to be dumped on another community that’s really not okay with having it. Duke Energy really needs to be working with the UNC school system and everything to try to do some research and come up with some ways to eliminate this problem for everyone.”

There’s also the matter of excavating the ash and transporting it to the new facility. Brooks says the company will complete its transportation plan within the next few months. Generally, Duke Energy uses rail to move ash from one site to another. Indeed, H.F. Lee has rail lines leading directly into the facility. Whether or not they’re fit to use is another question altogether.

“There are rail spurs that exist but what we have to look at is the practicalities of if that rail can be used to transport from the Goldsboro area down to the Sanford area where this material will be stored and that’s what we’re looking at right now.”

Whether by rail or by road, Duke Energy will moisten the ash prior to transport so it holds together like sand. They’ll then seal it in an enclosed container to prevent harmful dust from escaping, washing down the vehicles as they enter and leave both the H.F. Lee plant and the clay mine basin. Down East Coal Ash Coalition’s Mindy Robinson worries more about the excavation process.

“There will always be the risk of an accident happening and busting a pipeline or a dam or something like that and dumping a lot of this ash into the river because it’s so close.”

The H.F. Lee ponds are even closer to the Neuse River than the Eden facility ponds were to the Dan River when they burst in February of 2014. Robinson says she’d prefer the ash go towards something constructive rather than see it buried elsewhere.

“Apparently in South Carolina, they had set up those refiring processing plants right there on site where the coal ash ponds are. So, instead of having to excavate, it move It, and then try to get it processed from wherever you moved it to, they were able to take it up out of the ground where it is right now, refire and process it into construction materials, and ship it out in a safe way.”

Excavation can’t begin until Duke finishes layering the mine itself. The company can still postpone excavations further depending on how high a priority the state ranks the H.F. Lee cleanup as well. Riverkeeper Matthew Starr says he’d like the site cleared out as soon as possible, but knows it won’t happen overnight.

“We understand that Duke Energy cannot snap their fingers and have this cleanup happen tomorrow. So we will work to have this happen as soon as possible but we have to also be realists and understand that this is not a simple process to go through.”

I’m Lee Jenkins.