Friday, September 28, 2007

Drink a Beer - Save a Landmark



Oktoberfest 2007

Every Friday & Saturday from Sept.28 thru Oct 27
Doors open at 5 p.m.
Entertainment and food starts at 6 p.m.
Continuous music.
Sauerbraten, Bratwurst,Knackwurst & much more
German Beer and German souvenirs.Admission $5
Children under 12 free


Deutsches Haus is a New Orleans Landmark and institution. It is threatened by the proposed new Medical Complex. As much as we need the new hospital we need our heritage more.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Vote for the Muffuletta - It's important

Muffuletta

Ashley has appealed to everyone to vote for the Muffuletta at MSNBC.com. It could help save New Orleans.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Phuket

Perhaps you read about the plane crash which killed 88 people in Puket Provence, Thailand.

The name alone started me off on a search for more information.

Apparently it is pronounced "Poock-get".


I found out some interesting things. There are beautiful beaches and a robust tourist trade. 12 million visitors a year. New Orleans had 10.1 million visitors in 2004, our best year.


I'm thinking vacation.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Who's Your Pirate?

Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Time to get in touch with your inner buccaneer. But who is your pirate? The classic peg leg and parrot pirate or the more modern kind.

Robert Newton as Long John Sliver

In addition to Robert Newton actors who have portrayed Long John Silver in the various motion picture adaptations of Treasure Island include Wallace Beery, Orson Welles, Charlton Heston, , Anthony Quinn, Tim Curry, Jack Palance, Brian Murray, Oleg Borisov and British actor Ivor Dean in a televised version of the novel.

Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow

I think in a few years Talk Like a Pirate Day will be heavily influenced by the post modern performance of Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. He may be the worst pirate you ever heard of but you have heard of him.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

K-ville Debuts. New Orleans Still Stands.

K-ville is the new Fox Cop Show set in post Katrina New Orleans. It has been available on the Internet for some time. I've avoided anything to do with it in spite of intense interest and apprehension. Depictions of New Orleans in film and on TV have been almost uniformly bad and clueless. I wanted to see it in its intended setting.

Nola.com has a Weekly Scorecard. Chris Rose even wrote about it. That makes it officially important. Chris Rose even did a follow-up, how much more important can it get.

We in the nolabogosphere have been following production because Michael Homan's house and daughter are featured.

Monday Night K-ville finally debuted. It is basically a conventional gritty street cop show, set in New Orleans. It doesn't get New Orleans too wrong, assuming typical TV creative license . The Characters are typically gritty and the settings really are mostly in New Orleans. We'll see how it goes from here.

Other Bloggers have posted their reactions. Schroeder didn't like it much and has elaborated his impressions. Mark Deane E and Pistolette agreed. Adrastos thought it mediocre. He also collected most of these links. Clecus sort of agreed and wonders why we expected anything different. Marcus was mixed. Maitri was typically busy, live blogging and probably doing geological research as the same time. Tim as as usual came up with the lyric response. In typical New Orleans fashion Metroblogging New Orleans came up with a drinking game. Leigh's Mom even found a silver lining. YatPundit was kinder, he sorta liked it Swampwoman did too.Even Ashley came around eventually. I probably left some people out, please leave comments and I'll add links.

I have a few observations of my own.
  • My name was mentioned in the first 5 minutes. I'm more famous.
  • Kalypso has star quality.
  • New Orleans will survive this TV show.
  • The white guy's back story need serious work.
  • This is the first dramatic broadcast TV series with a predominately black cast.
I could be wrong about the last one but I don't recall one. There have been a lot of integrated shows. A lot of black situation comedies, but I can't remember any other dramatic series with a predominately black cast. And I haven't seen that commented on at all, but I live under a rock.