so I've been reading some really good news articles today, here they be:
"Doctors emerging as heroes of Katrina" from the AP
"Mexico Army brings aid to Katrina victims", also AP. It's the first time the Mexican army has been across the border since 1846. Somebody I was talking to said this reminded him of that lame movie "The Day After Tomorrow" with Jake Gyllenhall where all the disasters hit the US and everybody is forced to flee to Mexico. It's like the tables have turned was the guy's point. Forget who I was talking to though.
"Embattled Brown taken off hurricane duty", AP. A longer piece about him leaving, with questions about his qualifications, etc. He seems like the prime example of one of Pres. Bush's boys getting put into a job for what he did during the campaign with no regard for his qualifications.
"For a US platoon in Iraq, merciless missions" - a great Washington Post article following a platoon for a few days. Really interesting.
9/09/2005
so I was looking at Yahoo Sports today and saw this headline: "2005 Hall of Fame ceremonies include deceased Gunter". I think they need to reword this.
In other news, I saw Akira Kurosawa's Ran the other day. I remember seeing a movie a long time ago about feudal Japan with lots of cool battles and guys with flags on their hats and I thought I'd try to figure out what it was. I guessed it might be a Kurosawa movie, and I read this one was good, so I got it. It wasn't the one I was looking for (my friend thinks that is Kagemusha, so I'll get that next), but it was interesting. It's basically a version of King Lear played out in feudal Japan. Unfortunately I didn't get to finish it because it's 3 hours long and I waited to watch it the day I had to return it, but I saw probably 2.5 hours of it.
While I was watching it, I was sort of annoyed, because some of the subtitles were messed up with typos, and the old king character was obviously a younger actor with lots of bad makeup. The jester character was kind of weird too, (which is the idea, since he's a jester, but still) and it was strange already knowing most of the story but seeing it in a new way - I sort of knew what to expect. Also, the battle scenes were confusing in that I didn't know whose army was on whose side, and thus who was winning and so on. One line like "oh no, so and so's army is attacking us with so and so!" would have helped that immensely. Also, some of the emotions and acting seemed very stylized, but I guess that's Shakespeare and a Japanese costume drama for you. So I didn't think I liked it very much. However, a couple days afterwards, I'm still thinking of certain scenes and themes and images, there were a lot of great landscapes and shots of castles and plains and so on - really cool looking places I'd never seen before. So while I wasn't having that great of a time watching it, the fact that it stayed with me for this long makes me want to see it again. Maybe I'll be more used to the stylized acting and the bad makeup.
In other news, I saw Akira Kurosawa's Ran the other day. I remember seeing a movie a long time ago about feudal Japan with lots of cool battles and guys with flags on their hats and I thought I'd try to figure out what it was. I guessed it might be a Kurosawa movie, and I read this one was good, so I got it. It wasn't the one I was looking for (my friend thinks that is Kagemusha, so I'll get that next), but it was interesting. It's basically a version of King Lear played out in feudal Japan. Unfortunately I didn't get to finish it because it's 3 hours long and I waited to watch it the day I had to return it, but I saw probably 2.5 hours of it.
While I was watching it, I was sort of annoyed, because some of the subtitles were messed up with typos, and the old king character was obviously a younger actor with lots of bad makeup. The jester character was kind of weird too, (which is the idea, since he's a jester, but still) and it was strange already knowing most of the story but seeing it in a new way - I sort of knew what to expect. Also, the battle scenes were confusing in that I didn't know whose army was on whose side, and thus who was winning and so on. One line like "oh no, so and so's army is attacking us with so and so!" would have helped that immensely. Also, some of the emotions and acting seemed very stylized, but I guess that's Shakespeare and a Japanese costume drama for you. So I didn't think I liked it very much. However, a couple days afterwards, I'm still thinking of certain scenes and themes and images, there were a lot of great landscapes and shots of castles and plains and so on - really cool looking places I'd never seen before. So while I wasn't having that great of a time watching it, the fact that it stayed with me for this long makes me want to see it again. Maybe I'll be more used to the stylized acting and the bad makeup.
so I just found this great site, crooksandliars.com from my pal Erin's livejournal. It's a great site, with video clips and news articles about Bush and his cronies making mistakes and bending the truth. I really like the Time magazine article about Michael Brown's trumped-up resume (he claims to do a lot of things that he apparently never did) and the video of David Gregory from NBC arguing with press secretary Scott Mclellan for Mclellan not answering a question. Now I'm watching the video of Nancy Pelosi and Kyra Phillips from CNN.
9/08/2005
so I was browsing the Post today and saw a couple of good articles that ask hard questions about the hurricane response and the Bush administration's new tactics. Here's one by Terry Neal and one from Dan Froomkin's column.
But what really made me mad is this transcript from the photo-op Pres. Bush had with the two black ladies, where he hugged them. This is what was said, from Froomkin's column
Jesus Christ!
But what really made me mad is this transcript from the photo-op Pres. Bush had with the two black ladies, where he hugged them. This is what was said, from Froomkin's column
Bush strides up to two African American women, who are sisters. Hovering nearby is a white guy wearing shades and shorts.
With the cameras rolling, Bush hugs the two women, one of whom starts sobbing.
Here's a partial transcript:
Bush to women: "There's a Salvation Army center that I want to, that I'll tell you where it is, and they'll get you some help. I'm sorry... They'll help you... . "
Woman 1: "I came here looking for clothes. . . . "
Bush: "They'll get you some clothes, at the Salvation Army center... ."
Woman 1: "We don't have anything. . . . "
Bush: "I understand. . . . Do you know where the center is, that I'm talking to you about?"
Guy with shades: "There's no center there, sir, it's a truck."
Bush: "There's trucks?"
Guy: "There's a school, a school about two miles away. . . . "
Bush: "But isn't there a Salvation center down there?"
Guy: "No that's wiped out. . . . "
Bush: "A temporary center?"
Guy: "No sir they've got a truck there, for food."
Bush: "That's what I'm saying, for food and water."
Bush then turns to the woman who's been saying how she needs clothes and tells her: "You need food and water."
Jesus Christ!
9/07/2005
so apparently there is this guy who lives near me who dresses like a samurai or Mongolian warrior or something. I saw him once awhile ago when i was walking into the Shaw-Howard metro, he was a black guy wearing some kimono-looking thing, with one of those triangular Japanese hats, and some wood armor or something, the full deal. I don't remember if he was carrying anything though. But the first time I saw him, I assumed he was just at some kind of event or something and it was a one-time thing, but the other day my friends were over and they said they just saw a samurai guy around the corner, and described him exactly like I remembered. So I guess this guy dresses up like a samurai a lot. Crazy stuff. Hopefully I can get a photo of or with him.
Also, this is cool. Little tiny cubical houses, 2.6 meters on a side.
Also, this is cool. Little tiny cubical houses, 2.6 meters on a side.
9/06/2005
Think Crapp
So I am seeing these signs everywhere. However, they always make me think of "crap" instead. Kind of a bad name for a politician, and a dumb thing to have on a sign anyway. Why not just "Linda Cropp"? Even "Cropp for Mayor" sounds like crap. But with a first name, it's less obvious.
9/02/2005
so I am going to start a new thing for fridays, a bunch of links of neat stuff for the weekend.
First, here's a really interesting Livejournal of a guy in downtown New Orleans. He works at some kind of technology company apparently with a diesel generator, and has a live cam of what's going on. He uses lots of weird military terms too for some reason. Scary and strange but very cool.
A funny Choose Your Own Adventure game, which I found in the weekly email from insound.com.
Streetsy, a site with pictures of graffiti.
An interesting article about tourism in Greenland.
A funny Doonesbury comic about blogging. Sounds like my blog.
And finally, a news article saying that wasting time at work costs companies millions. Good thing I never do that!
First, here's a really interesting Livejournal of a guy in downtown New Orleans. He works at some kind of technology company apparently with a diesel generator, and has a live cam of what's going on. He uses lots of weird military terms too for some reason. Scary and strange but very cool.
A funny Choose Your Own Adventure game, which I found in the weekly email from insound.com.
Streetsy, a site with pictures of graffiti.
An interesting article about tourism in Greenland.
A funny Doonesbury comic about blogging. Sounds like my blog.
And finally, a news article saying that wasting time at work costs companies millions. Good thing I never do that!
so first off, I hope people donate to the Red Cross, at their website or on the phone, 1-800-HELP-NOW.
However, I am getting pretty pissed about this. For one thing, why did this happen? Some people probably chose to stay in New Orleans, but a lot probably couldn't, because they were sick or poor or didn't have a car and so on - why were they left behind? It's like the government said "see ya, hope you don't die." Obviously it would be difficult and costly to evacuate people, but considering the number of people who've said this would happen (FEMA, academics including GW professors, New Orleans Times-Picayune reporters, among others that I've heard mentioned on CNN), it's boggling that no one tried to evacuate them. I mean, it would have saved thousands of lives, at least. Are poor people's lives not as important? It's what it seems like now.
I think part of the problem is that the director of FEMA said that the victims bear some responsibility for staying. This guy is the director of FEMA? Come on. I read somewhere that flights were full, assuming you could afford them, and I assume it's the same way with rail and buses.
Some other interesting news - Baton Rouge is the largest city in Louisiana and may stay that way for some time. As someone rightly points out, Galveston was as big as Houston before it was hit by a hurricane in 1900. Same with Indianola, Texas, not mentioned in the article, which wasn't resettled.
People around the world are shocked and surprised at the poor response to the hurricane and its aftermath.
Local officials are furious about the slow response. New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin has told the federal government to "get off their asses". Of course, Mississippi governor Haley Barbour, former head of the GOP, has been pretty quiet, saying on CNN it'll take time, etc.
Pres. Bush did say results were "not acceptable."
A pretty interesting thing from the Gawker blog, about Anderson Cooper giving hell to Sen. Mary Landrieu, which I watched on CNN. He was angry that politicians were patting each other on the back and such. She said "Anderson" maybe 80 times. And "I have the anger in my heart" was pretty corny to hear.
"The Big Disconnect," a CNN piece comparing the federal goverment's statements about the disaster to those by the mayor and other locals.
"To me, it just seems like black people are marked,"from the Post.
This piece from Ariana Huffington's blog basically blames Pres. Bush for the tragedy. Interesting. Although I read that some of the denials of funds happened in 1998, which would be the Clinton administration. I wonder if Clinton and HW Bush are wondering if they could have done anything more when they were president. Not that I think they are to blame anyway.
However, I am getting pretty pissed about this. For one thing, why did this happen? Some people probably chose to stay in New Orleans, but a lot probably couldn't, because they were sick or poor or didn't have a car and so on - why were they left behind? It's like the government said "see ya, hope you don't die." Obviously it would be difficult and costly to evacuate people, but considering the number of people who've said this would happen (FEMA, academics including GW professors, New Orleans Times-Picayune reporters, among others that I've heard mentioned on CNN), it's boggling that no one tried to evacuate them. I mean, it would have saved thousands of lives, at least. Are poor people's lives not as important? It's what it seems like now.
I think part of the problem is that the director of FEMA said that the victims bear some responsibility for staying. This guy is the director of FEMA? Come on. I read somewhere that flights were full, assuming you could afford them, and I assume it's the same way with rail and buses.
Some other interesting news - Baton Rouge is the largest city in Louisiana and may stay that way for some time. As someone rightly points out, Galveston was as big as Houston before it was hit by a hurricane in 1900. Same with Indianola, Texas, not mentioned in the article, which wasn't resettled.
People around the world are shocked and surprised at the poor response to the hurricane and its aftermath.
Local officials are furious about the slow response. New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin has told the federal government to "get off their asses". Of course, Mississippi governor Haley Barbour, former head of the GOP, has been pretty quiet, saying on CNN it'll take time, etc.
Pres. Bush did say results were "not acceptable."
A pretty interesting thing from the Gawker blog, about Anderson Cooper giving hell to Sen. Mary Landrieu, which I watched on CNN. He was angry that politicians were patting each other on the back and such. She said "Anderson" maybe 80 times. And "I have the anger in my heart" was pretty corny to hear.
"The Big Disconnect," a CNN piece comparing the federal goverment's statements about the disaster to those by the mayor and other locals.
"To me, it just seems like black people are marked,"from the Post.
This piece from Ariana Huffington's blog basically blames Pres. Bush for the tragedy. Interesting. Although I read that some of the denials of funds happened in 1998, which would be the Clinton administration. I wonder if Clinton and HW Bush are wondering if they could have done anything more when they were president. Not that I think they are to blame anyway.
so it looks like the downstairs of the Brickskeller is closing. My friend forwarded me the bar's mailing list:
This sucks, the downstairs is the best place. Plus they keep all the beer down there, I wonder if that means the selection is going to be a lot smaller. I could give a shit about football, since no other bars in the city ever show football. I don't know if the guy is tired of running it or wants to focus on the not-so-great RFD or what, but this is bad news. Or I guess it might be a joke, but it's pretty bizarrely written and unfunny if so.
UPDATE
I emailed the owner, he said the downstairs will only be closed on sundays during football season. So it was just a terribly written email. Here's what he has to say.
===============================
Item twice - The Brickskeller is CLOSING!
Yep, the rumors are true. The Brickskeller is closing her doors. After 47 years the unthinkable has happened. On Sunday, September 11th, those trying to enter our downstairs bar will find the door locked. However, if you walk up to the second floor entrance you will discover we are now showing NFL FOOTBALL IN OUR UPSTAIRS BAR ALL DAY EVERY SUNDAY FOR THE ENTIRE SEASON! YeahBABY! The upstairs bar is opening at 12 noon to allow all our football loving beer keg chuggin armchair huggin ballcoach mugging shirtsleeve tuggin waitstaff buggin spill on the ruggin beerguy buddin pals to watch the best football games in the best beer bar drinking the best beer on the best earth!
The Brickskeller close? R U Kiddin? Do you believe the morning papers too?
================================
This sucks, the downstairs is the best place. Plus they keep all the beer down there, I wonder if that means the selection is going to be a lot smaller. I could give a shit about football, since no other bars in the city ever show football. I don't know if the guy is tired of running it or wants to focus on the not-so-great RFD or what, but this is bad news. Or I guess it might be a joke, but it's pretty bizarrely written and unfunny if so.
UPDATE
I emailed the owner, he said the downstairs will only be closed on sundays during football season. So it was just a terribly written email. Here's what he has to say.
Hi Andrew
The downstairs will only be closed sunday nights during the football season, we put TVs upstairs so we're going to show the games during the season, then all will return to normalcy. The complete beer list will be available upstairs, unlike downstairs where the taps are not. So we'll have about 100 more seats, be open 6 more hours and offer 12 more beers than any Sunday ever before. It's all good, not to worry.
Cheerios
Dave
9/01/2005
so the elevator at work has 9 buttons arranged in a square, 3x3, and I like to watch the buttons to see if we win at tic-tac-toe. Like if people pushed 2, 5, 8, it'd be three in a row in the middle, or 3, 5, 7, diagonally. People rarely win though.
In other news, I think it's weird when an athlete gets injured and they say on ESPN, "Smith hurt his leg. X-rays were negative." What, could you not see his bone? His leg is hollow? It means they didn't see a break or tear or whatever, but it sounds dumb. Maybe "X-rays didn't reveal any damage" would be better or something.
In other news, I think it's weird when an athlete gets injured and they say on ESPN, "Smith hurt his leg. X-rays were negative." What, could you not see his bone? His leg is hollow? It means they didn't see a break or tear or whatever, but it sounds dumb. Maybe "X-rays didn't reveal any damage" would be better or something.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
