Monday, July 7, 2008
The bearless pole
Posted by Will Coviello on Mon, Jul 7, 2008 at 11:02 PM
Award-winning filmmaker Werner Herzog is perhaps best known recently for his film Grizzly Man (trailer here), a documentary about the end of Timothy Treadwell’s life. Treadwell was a sort of obsessive naturalist who spent 13 years visiting the national parks of Alaska trying to live among the bears. He filmed bears, filmed himself tracking them and even interacting with them. Tragically, he also had a camera rolling when a bear finally attacked and ate him, almost all of which is off-camera. But Herzog pieced together his portrait from 100 hours of Treadwell’s film.
Herzog brings his new film, Encounters at the End of the World, to town this week. There will be a screening and a Q&A with the director, which might be a good place to get a preview of his planned filming of The Bad Liutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.
Diversify, delocate, de-latte
Posted by Alison Fensterstock on Mon, Jul 7, 2008 at 8:48 PM
The announcement that Starbucks will be closing 600 stores nationwide last week hit (see Mike Luckovich's cartoon from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution above) kind of like an announcement that 600 drops of water were being removed from the Mississippi River. I remember a conversation I had with a friend last week, remembered semi-verbatim below:
Him: You remember, we were at the Starbucks in your old neighborhood in New York.
Me: The one by the diner.
Him: No, the one on Astor Place.
Me: The diner is on Astor Place.
Him: Right, but the other one.
Me: The one by the subway station?
Him: No, that's the one on the east side of Astor Place. The other other one, across the street.
When I lived in the East Village for six months after Katrina, you could stand on the street outside my apartment and literally see four Starbucks stores. Where I live now, in the Bywater - and this may be one of the last places in the U.S. that this can happen - you'll pass at least six independent coffeehouses, plus two stores owened by the Louisiana chain CC's, before you get to the nearest Starbucks. I'm not a hater - I'll sip from the green straw as often as anyone. But for those who like the option of caffeinating locally, this website is a nice alternative option. Here's how it works: enter in your ZIP code, and it goes into its viewer-built database and gives you addresses, phone numbers and reviews on all the indie coffee shops within five miles of where you are (it'll also give you the locations of all the convenient Starbucks shops, just to play fair.) You can do it from your cell phone; it'll even give you map directions how to get there.
It'll also do the same to find indie bookstores and movie theaters. It's probably good for people who have become unintentional shut-ins due to Amazon and Netflix. Thankfully, you can't buy a cup of coffee on the Internet yet.
Congressional Announcements A-Comin’
Posted by Clancy DuBos on Mon, Jul 7, 2008 at 4:13 PM
At least two major opponents of Congressman Bill Jefferson will formally announce their candidacies this week, and more are sure to come.
Helena Moreno and Kenya Smith both will announce tomorrow (Tuesday, July 8). State Sen. Cheryl Gray is weighing her options, and former City Councilman Troy Carter has phoned potential supporters to tell them that he intends to run, but neither has yet sent word of plans for a formal announcement.
Smith, a former top aide to Mayor Ray Nagin, will announce at 5 p.m. in Woldenberg Park. A campaign source says he expects a crowd of supporters to be there, including some high-profile folks like RTA chair Cesar Burgos and New Orleans Jazz Orchestra director Irvin Mayfield.
Moreno will announce an hour later, at 6 p.m., at the Union Passenger Terminal. She has already put together a campaign team, including pollster Ed Renwick and media consultant Greg Buisson. Her friend, Saints exec Rita Benson LeBlanc, will serve as finance chair.
No doubt more will jump into the race as well. I did a cover story on the race in this week’s Gambit Weekly, which should be online later today (Monday).
Alliance Banquet Saturday
Posted by Scuttlebutt on Mon, Jul 7, 2008 at 1:30 PM
By: Allen Johnson
Qualifying for the fall elections gets underway this week, Wednesday through Friday, and political tradition dictates that the Alliance for Good Government’s annual “Legislator of the Year” banquet follows soon thereafter. This year’s four-parish banquet will begin at 7 p.m. Saturday (July 12) at the Hilton Riverside. Cocktail hour starts at 5:30 p.m. — roughly 24 hours after qualifying closes.
Lege Taps and Bonus Pay
Posted by Scuttlebutt on Mon, Jul 7, 2008 at 1:28 PM
By: Jeremy Alford
While usually a national issue, the military’s ongoing affairs grabbed the attention of Louisiana lawmakers several times this year.
