spasticrobot

Fall Inventory

Here's everything I've been reading, watching, listening to, doing and consuming for the past three months.This really brings the reality home that we've experienced an entire season post-K. Everything I did for three months was affected by that storm, as this list reflects. What a long, unusual season it's been. Quite possibly the craziest in my entire life.

Books
Massive Change - Bruce Mau
A Pattern Language - Christopher Alexander
Heavy Weather - Bruce Sterling
Frenchmen Desire Good Children and Other Street Names of New Orleans - John Churchill Chase
The French Quarter - Herbert Asbury
Imagineering Atlanta - Charles Rutheiser
The Present and Future of Cities
The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana - Umberto Eco
Introducing Postmodernism
Son of a Witch - Gregory Maguire
Themepunks - Cory Doctorow
Home Comforts - Cheryl Mendelson

Movies / DVDs
M.A.S.H.
CSI: The Complete First Season
Trekkies 2
Crash
Lost: Season 1
Arrested Development Season 2
In the Realms of the Unknown
Godfather 2
Donnie Brasco
The Hulk
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Lords of Dogtown
The Longest Yard
Madagascar
Big Trouble in Little China
Me, You and Everyone We Know

Music
Mountain Music (Oh Death)
Whatever is playing in The Green Room
Whatever is playing in St. John's
Broadcast - Tender Buttons
Blonde Redhead - Misery is a Butterfly (esp. Pink Love)
Boards of Canada - Campfire Headphase
Madonna - Hung Up
Vitalic - OK Cowboy
Annie - Heartbeat
Psychedelic World Classics Vol. 4

Projects
New New Orleans Initiative
Cox Hurricane Messaging
Personal Site noodling
BBNOC Education Committee Site

Events
Hurricane Katrina
Powerless in Covington
Relief at Althea & Burt's in Dallas
Pow-Wow in Austin
Breakfast with Bruce Sterling
Rufugee Summer Camp in Covington
S. Solomon Recon Mission
Tuesday Dinners at Mom & Tom's
Dutch Sustainable Design Conference in Chicago
Back to Work
Anniversary Dinner & Covington Fall for Art
A New Home in the Marigny
Houston Ikea Trip
Jude Returns
Valentine Visits
Chris & Rose Return
Thanksgiving Goodness
Sarah & Rick's Turkey Fry

Stuff
Modernism as therapy
Migas at Las Manitas
Queso, Tacos al Carbon and The Don at Guero's
Austin Cafes (Quackenbush, Little City, Flight Pattern)
Civic Duty
New Orleans Nostalgia
New Orleans Progressive Intent
Ciggies, any kind
Bourbon, any way
Corona with Lime
Iced Coffee with Skim
Interstate BBQ
Chicago Hot Dogs
CTA Metro
H&M
Filter
Quimby's
Saturday Dinners at Etoile
Wilbert's Barbecue
Ristorante Del Porto
Fast Food Enjoyment
604 Kerlerec
Ikea Comforts
Cafe Rose Nicaud
Taco Nights
Sundays at the R Bar
Bloody Marys
Dos Equis
Iced Mochas
Everything Bagels
Fried Turkey
Andouille Cornbread Dressing

The Big WiFi

This morning Mayor Nagin announced plans for a free wireless internet service in New Orleans. The idea of a ubiquitous blanket of sweet WiFi covering our reconstructed city is really nice. I can see this being a lure for new businesses.

I do have to say that I've always felt a little weird about municipalities (or any government for that matter) launching these projects. It will definitely have a business impact on telecommunications firms, the one I work for included. The nice thing about this service though is that it is free and it looks like it will be significantly slower than the service that we offer.

The ideal scenario would be if our customers keep our service and then use the municipal service while they are out and about. Any way you cut it, it's great news for New Orleans residents, and it's very nice to finally see something positive about us in the national press.

Do Not Forsake Us

Jim Amoss, the Editor of the Times-Picayune, wrote an excellent op ed piece for the Washington Post yesterday entitled, Do Not Forsake Us. It's great to see this published in a major newspaper.

Can America, having witnessed the loss of well over 1,000 lives to Katrina, not rouse itself? Despite its problems, New Orleans remains one of our greatest cities, beloved of this country and the world. We are at the fulcrum of one-third of the nation's oil and gas and 40 percent of its seafood. We gave birth to much of this country's indigenous culture, and we continue to nourish it. What does it say about our civilization if this unique American metropolis is left to die?

What New Orleans needs is no extravagance. Our city must help itself in rebuilding its neighborhoods and reforming its institutions. What is lacking is political will in Washington and the determination to bring our engineering know-how to bear upon the problem. Without a substantial levee system, homeowners won't muster the confidence to rebuild, and businesses will not see fit to invest.

President Bush was still smarting from the embarrassing federal response to Katrina when he stood in the heart of our city and made his promise to rebuild. It would be a greater embarrassment to an entire nation if that promise went unfulfilled.

Things I am Thankful for:

Shanna M. Montgomery
Family
Great Friends
A Constantly Rewarding Job
The City of New Orleans and the exhuberant will of its inhabitants
A Lovely new Home in the Faubourg Marigny

What You Can Do to Help New Orleans

For anyone who might think things are getting better here and have pretty much returned to normal, let's have a quick review.

I'm sure you'll all remember that somewhere around 80% of our fair city was flooded. You may or may not know that this flood was caused by HUMAN FAILURE at the hands of either the levee board, the US Army Corps of Engineers, or the companies paid to construct our levees. Levees so defective that they are now the subject of criminal investigations by the Louisiana Attorney General, the US Department of Justice and the F.B.I.

If this man-made catastrophe had not occured our city, for the most part, would have made it through with only structural damage. Most of us would have been able to return to our homes, our schools and our work within days of the storm. Instead, we are only beginning to trickle back into the city, finding homes where we can. Many businesses want to open but cannot due to a massive shortage in the labor pool. The streets are filthy and still full of debris. Electricity has not even been restored to enormous portions of the city.

The federal government is denying us Category 5 levee protection, even as they continue to rely on us to transport the oil that fuels this nation. Our state representatives are squabbling in the state house, unable to pass legislation that would modernize institutions embroiled in political patronage and pork barrel projects.

If things don't change for the better I fear for the future of our city. We need everyone's help on this. Here's what you can do to help:

1. Write your representatives to demand that they save our region - We need massive support at the local, state and federal level. If you are a local write to your local and state representatives to DEMAND that they get together on key issues in the struggle to save our city. If you live outside of Louisiana please write your congressional representatives and Senators to let them know that you care about Louisiana and that we are a vital part of this country. If we exert enough pressure on our representatives they WILL get behind this issue. This is the most critical piece of the puzzle right now. We need to have political support in order to survive.
2. Spend your money here - Come to New Orleans and spend your money. Our businesses need it desperately. If you can't make it down, buy Louisiana and specifically New Orleans products. Another key to our survival is the ability for our small businesses to thrive. Small Businesses accounted for 85% of New Orleans' pre-K revenue. these businesses will fuel the recovery of our city and need your support.
3. Donate your time and expertise - Volunteer! Whether you are participating in neighborhood cleanups, building websites for non-profits, helping to start community centers or organizing drives for musical instruments, New Orleans needs bold volunteerism. As we've seen over the past months we cannot rely on government to save us, so we've got to get together and save what we can ourselves.
4. Donate your money - If you can't do anything else, please donate your money to one of the many charitable organizations helping New Orleans. I highly recommend Habitat for Humanity or the New Orleans Musicians Hurricane Relief Fund, but there are many, many others.

Please do whatever you can to help us, our city and our region. Things are not getting better down here and without your help they may never get much better.

Down by the Riverside

This event happens Saturday, should be a load of fun.

Fredric Jameson: Archaeologies of the Future

Fredric Jameson has a new book called Archaeologies of the Future: The Desire of Utopia and Other Science Fictions that examines the utopian narrative of fringe SF novels. From the publisher's description:

The relationship between utopia and science fiction is explored through the representations of otherness—alien life and alien worlds—and a study of the works of Philip K. Dick, Ursula LeGuin, William Gibson, Brian Aldiss, Kim Stanley Robinson and more. Jameson's essential essays, including "The Desire Called Utopia," conclude with an examination of the opposing positions on utopia and an assessment of its political value today.Archaeologies of the Future is the third volume, after Postmodernism and A Singular Modernity, of Jameson's project on the Poetics of Social Forms.

I found out about this book by reading Joshua Glenn's excellent essay in yesterday's Boston Globe called Back to Utopia: Can the antidote to today's neoliberal triumphalism be found in the pages of far-out science fiction? I haven't been this excited about a work of theory in a while.

New Photos

I finally uploaded some pictures from last month to my Flickr account. I'll be adding more tomorrow including pictures of our new house.

It's time for a nation to return the favor

The Times-Picayune ran a great editorial yesterday calling for the Feds to back Category 5 protection of our city. Here's an excerpt:

Americans wanted the oil and gas that flow freely off our shores. They longed for the oysters and shrimp and flaky Gulf fish that live in abundance in our waters. They wanted to ship corn and soybeans and beets down the Mississippi and through our ports. They wanted coffee and steel to flow north through the mouth of the river and into the heartland.

They wanted more than that, though. They wanted to share in our spirit. They wanted to sample the joyous beauty of our jazz and our food. And we were happy to oblige them.

Find out how to contact key policy makers here.

Goblet of Fire

Last night Shanna, Will, Heather and I made our way to the Midnight screening of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at the Prytania. We arrived to the Theatre expecting a small crowd but were delighted and surprised to see a line extending out the door. The crowd was filled with gleeful, cheering teenagers which was nice to see. Yet another sign of returning normalcy.

I really liked this film but I'm not sure that it's the best film of the series. It's dark and full of splendid visual delights but lacks Alfonso Cuaron's overall artistic mastery in the Prisoner of Azkaban. I guess the main problem for me is that Goblet of Fire is my favorite book of the series and parts of its intricate narrative including Harry's inner turmoil are sacrificed in the service of big action sequences. I also missed seeing the Dursleys and Dobby, who were both presumably cut in order to spend more time on the Tri Wizard Tournament.

Book / Movie comparisions aside the movie does not dissapoint. There are plenty of great comedic scenes depicting the central character's pubescent development inlcluding a hillarious scene between Moaning Myrtle and Harry. The death eaters, who we see for the first time here, look spooky and fantastic. Voldemort is a frightening character to behold and is played skillfully by Ralph Fiennes. I also thoroughly enjoyed the Tri Wizard bits, especially the Black Lake sequence.

Goblet of Fire is great as a standalone movie and makes a fine addition to the expanded Harry Potter universe. However, if you require more complex and compelling material in your entertainment, I highly suggest reading the book.