Saturday, October 8, 2011

Win at trip to New Orleans with Harry Shearer~The Cajun Boy~Well, our friends at FilmBuff were inspired enough by Harry Shearer’s powerful and entertaining documentary, The Big Uneasy (which you should totally watch, btw), for its “ability to go behind the scenes and capture the events surrounding hurricane Katrina and the destruction that it laid upon the city of New Orleans.(here Editilla axes WTF???) So they’re, with Harry’s help, having a contest:
From inspiration comes action, so we want to give you, our loyal FilmBuffs an unique opportunity: write a letter to your state senator and discuss what measures need to be taken to protect your community and prevent devastating natural disasters like this (here Editilla gotta axe: do they mean the US Army Corps of Engineers?) from crippling your town. Submit your letter to both your senator and also, via our team here, to Harry Shearer. Harry, the director of the The Big Uneasy, will personally select the best letter. Should that letter be yours, you will win a trip to New Orleans where Harry himself will guide you on a exciting tour of this great city and together you will witness first hand some of the renewal areas.
~Editilla Parentheticates~ We're a fan of this writer and follow him on Twitter. But, I don't care if you are Elvis' little brother, New Orleans was not flooded by a Natural Disaster named Katrina but by a man-made civil engineering failure named the US Army Corps of Engineers.
In the real world, we call such a miss-framing of the man-made Federal Flood that devastated New Orleans as "Katrina the Natural Disaster": Katrina Shorthand. In the 5 years I've watched Levees.org battle this misconception in the American Press, it seemed to have slackened to a trickle due to that group's unrelenting efforts to correct editors and journalists. Yet, here we are after the 6th Anniversary of that Man Made Disaster, and we find a local journalists/content writer doing it like they're some jail-punk at the AP. I don't even need to mention how antithetical this is to the entire premise of The Big Uneasy. They should watch the movie before trying to Katrina Shorthand it.

Roll on Red Bull!

~Hat Tweet

We Are Not Ready For Some Football...
~Library Chronicles


Concern in crisis adds to stress: human impact of oil leak studied~Jordan Blum
~Having strong roots and community commitment can actually lead to more stress and health problems, especially in times of crisis, according to a new LSU study.
Link
Army Corps Bribe Case Includes Alleged Threat to Kill Witness ~Bloomberg

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've waited on Harry Shearer many times at restaurants over the years and he sucks. Thanks for the 12% tip on the reg even though you get perfect service and we make $2.13/hour. We depend on our tips, Harry! Loosen the purse strings and while you're at it, try smiling once in a while.

Editilla said...

Yeah. I've heard that before (mighta been you). There is no excuse for stiffing your waiter in New Orleans (unless maybe the Camellia Grill FQ Treme-wannabes I got last night).

But I've also heard of waiters asking him about Leave it to Beaver, The Simpsons and even for an autograph. Just because someone is famous doesn't mean they aren't entitled to time off work and a pleasant meal.
That said, there is no excuse for being rudely dismissive to a waiter in New Orleans.

I've always found it ironic that many people who make a living being funny -sometimes- actually have pretty intensely unfunny private lives.
Harry is decidedly Not Funny in The Big Uneasy. He leaves that to our friend John Goodman (who btw IS a great tipper and walks down Frenchman St wit'a BIG SMILE). Nor have I ever seen Harry even remotely try to be funny on his blog at Huff Post, which has always been for the most part about New Orleans and the Federal Flood 8/29/05.

Harry's an intense and complex guy. But when I handed him a pair of Brass Balls in Silver Spring, Maryland after a screening of TBU in March, he did crack a smile... and even thanked yer Ho Ho Homble Editilla.

So there, my thoughts in a nut butter.