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Feb. 19th, 2007 10:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gordonzolaOne of the things I did while sick this week was watch, "When the Levees Broke", the Spike Lee documentary about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. It was well done and compelling, though a little depressing for the edgy emotional state I get into while sick. I watched it in dribs and drabs, sometimes because it made me cry and sometimes because I found I couldn't concentrate because of my sick brain.
The only part I watched where I was like, "Hmmm, this seems a little picky." Was the scene where a teenager gives a tour of his FEMA trailer, complaining about how cheaply made it is. I didn't dwell on it but Lee had just documented how few people had gotten the trailers at all so it seemed a little, I hesitate to write this, ungrateful. It was a minor moment, but to me it seemed like a false note, a moment of less righteous anger in a film where "righteous anger" was the baseline .
And you know what? I was totally wrong.
Not 15 minutes after watching that I read a Nation article that just came out. Written about a year after the movie was filmed, it detailed that those trailers are making people sick because the materials aren't rated for people to actually live in them. Truly much of New Orleans is toxic still, and it would be hard to separate the toxicity of formaldehyde from the toxicity of sewage, mold, etc without massive study. But, man… It just keeps coming.
In other movie news I finally saw "Pan's Labyrinth" last night. I never get tired of seeing Fascists killed, especially Spanish ones. My favorite scene was right near the end so I probably shouldn't mention it until the movie is out of the theaters, but as someone who grew up watching war movies the "Fuck your honor" moment was incredibly satisfying and against genre. As it should be.
I also somehow got that James Bond movie from Netflix... "The World is not Enough" starring Remington Steele. It was so bad that I actually returned it unfinished. I realized about half way to the mailbox that I actually forgot to watch the last 15 minutes and I totally didn't care. I swear I don't know how that got on my queue. I think the name confused me. Maybe I was thinking it was "The World Can't Wait" and it was about sectarian front groups, I dunno.
The only part I watched where I was like, "Hmmm, this seems a little picky." Was the scene where a teenager gives a tour of his FEMA trailer, complaining about how cheaply made it is. I didn't dwell on it but Lee had just documented how few people had gotten the trailers at all so it seemed a little, I hesitate to write this, ungrateful. It was a minor moment, but to me it seemed like a false note, a moment of less righteous anger in a film where "righteous anger" was the baseline .
And you know what? I was totally wrong.
Not 15 minutes after watching that I read a Nation article that just came out. Written about a year after the movie was filmed, it detailed that those trailers are making people sick because the materials aren't rated for people to actually live in them. Truly much of New Orleans is toxic still, and it would be hard to separate the toxicity of formaldehyde from the toxicity of sewage, mold, etc without massive study. But, man… It just keeps coming.
In other movie news I finally saw "Pan's Labyrinth" last night. I never get tired of seeing Fascists killed, especially Spanish ones. My favorite scene was right near the end so I probably shouldn't mention it until the movie is out of the theaters, but as someone who grew up watching war movies the "Fuck your honor" moment was incredibly satisfying and against genre. As it should be.
I also somehow got that James Bond movie from Netflix... "The World is not Enough" starring Remington Steele. It was so bad that I actually returned it unfinished. I realized about half way to the mailbox that I actually forgot to watch the last 15 minutes and I totally didn't care. I swear I don't know how that got on my queue. I think the name confused me. Maybe I was thinking it was "The World Can't Wait" and it was about sectarian front groups, I dunno.
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Date: 2007-02-19 06:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-19 06:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-19 06:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-22 01:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-19 06:41 pm (UTC)also..levee is on my list...mebbie i'll move it up
hope you are feelin better
ps: the thought of you watching it and crying is just so
endearingly cute.
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Date: 2007-02-19 07:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-19 06:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-19 07:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-19 07:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-19 07:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-19 07:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-19 07:50 pm (UTC)yeah, the movie is pretty damn good, especially since it was made so soon after.
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Date: 2007-02-19 07:35 pm (UTC)I watched When the Levees... all in one sitting. It was fucking devastating.
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Date: 2007-02-19 07:48 pm (UTC)In SF the last of the 1906 earthquake cottages have finally been removed. Most were remodeled or destroyed years ago but a few have been declared landmarks and were moved and preserved, looking for a new lot to be placed on.
100 years. and still functional, if too small for the $1 million lots they now sit on.
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Date: 2007-02-19 07:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-19 07:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-19 08:02 pm (UTC)Unfortunately.
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Date: 2007-02-19 07:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-19 07:44 pm (UTC)yeah, I wrote the thing about "ungrateful" as a statement about myself, you know? I thought that and immediately, rationally, felt I was being fucked up. And it turned out I was being even more fucked up than I thought.
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Date: 2007-02-19 08:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-19 08:57 pm (UTC)As far as When the Levees Broke goes, I haven't been able to finish watching it yet, because it keeps pissing me off.
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Date: 2007-02-20 04:55 pm (UTC)as for Pan, I'm not too into fairy tales but through in some Spanish anarchists and fascists and I'm there!
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Date: 2007-02-20 07:16 pm (UTC)Pan's Labyrinth manages to be a fairy tale *about* Spanish anarchists and fascists, that's one of the things I liked best about it. Its plot could have come from a fairy tale, Captain Vidal was the child-eating ogre, etc. Like the best stories, it showed people's weaknesses and strengths, and didn't hide from the blood.
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Date: 2007-02-19 09:08 pm (UTC)I took a social science class in my long-ago undergrad years, and the professor specialized in disaster psychology. It's fascinating to see how people behave in the exact ways he said they would - there was a particular phase he focused on where people can't help themselves at all because they're too overwhelmed, and they get very angry with their rescuers because it's really the only emotion left that is safe to have. When the people in NOLA hit that phase (and they all seemed to hit it at the same time, and it has lasted a long time), the Right Wing used it as a wedge to prove that all of "those people" were ungrateful wretches who had things work out "quite well, overall" and who just couldn't appreciate the nice things they were being given.
Um, I'm not sure what the point of this is. I guess just that Spike Lee delivers a great movie yet again. I need to watch the rest.
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Date: 2007-02-20 04:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-21 11:27 am (UTC)The contention was that our leaders expect always chaos in the streets, but usually the atmosphere is one of mutual aid, and there is a distinct drop in destructive or neurotic behavior. Totally by coincidence, this was on the newsstands when Katrina hit.
I was impressed by the article at the time, but it sounds like you're in a position to know whether it's backed up by the facts?
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Date: 2007-02-21 05:06 pm (UTC)In the impact phase, survivors do not panic and may, in fact, show no emotion. They do what they must to keep themselves and their families alive.
In the inventory phase, which immediately follows the event, survivors assess damage and try to locate other survivors. During this phase, routine social ties tend to be discarded in favor of the more functional relationships required for initial response activities such as search and rescue and emergency medical operations.
In the rescue phase, emergency services personnel are responding and survivors are willing to take their direction from these groups without protest. They exhibit a sense of trust that their rescuers will address their needs and that they can then put their lives together quickly.
In the recovery phase, however, survivors may believe that rescue efforts are not proceeding quickly enough. That feeling, combined with other emotional stressors (for example, dealing with insurance adjustors and having to find temporary living accommodations), may cause survivors to pull together against their rescuers.
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Date: 2007-02-19 10:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-20 04:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-19 11:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-20 12:14 am (UTC)then I got it.
good one.
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Date: 2007-02-20 12:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-20 01:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-20 12:26 am (UTC)Seeing Dinerral Shavers of the Hot 8 Brass Band in the doc was especially sad, given his recent murder.
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Date: 2007-02-20 04:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-20 04:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-20 04:33 am (UTC)her sister refuses to "desert" NOLA, but has noticed that she has been getting sick a lot and is comtemplating moving up here to be closer to cindi -- cindi decided that she was never going to go back after she did and saw the numbers on the door and what was left of her grandparents' home...she STILL has nightmares once in a while, but is MUCH better than what she was when they first dropped her off on my porch...
i inherited a college-aged kid...but so proud of what she has done to create a great, wonderful life for herself!
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Date: 2007-02-20 04:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-20 05:19 pm (UTC)thanks for the compliment -- but i had plenty of help from many people...i mainly gave her a roof, food and a shoulder to cry on -- there was a lot of that...and helping her get her classes scheduled, showing her around campus...but in all honesty, the little things that friends did (like send her zines and books, one got her a prepaid cell phone so she could make her FEMA calls and look for her sister), one sent her some clothing, a gal pal got the salon she works at to give her a makeover for school & they hooked her up with enough hair and styling products for like a year...
yes, it does take a community -- i have learned so much about love and family through this experience...i also have learmed a great deal about my redneck neighbors here who made food, invited her to BBQs in the neighborhood, gave her babysitting gigs to make some $ -- i may talk shit about them from time to time, but they have shown that they have a lot of heart...they just drink shitty beer ;-P
but i don't think i could ever do it again -- i cried along with her so much, was stressed out along with her in trying to find her family and get her life in some semblance of normalcy...
however i DO get angry at those who have used their situation for personal gain, who are not trying to create a homelife somewhere and are dragging their kids down with them...many came to detroit, and i worked at a center screening families...so many just wanted to know when we could get them their FEMA check -- and once they got it, many just blew it and then became part of our welfare system...but not everyone did that, i believe a very rare few...
...yeah, thanks for the compliment -- but i'll never do it again.
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Date: 2007-02-20 10:29 am (UTC)I had the opportunity to go to New Orleans this spring with a few photographers/writers to work on a project there and I let it pass. Well, I could still say yes, there's still time. But the magnitude of it all makes me feel so fucking demoralized that I can barely leave this LJ comment, can't even rent the damn film, let alone become what feels like a war correspondent.
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Date: 2007-02-20 05:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-20 10:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-20 04:48 pm (UTC)there is exactly one good movie about sectarians that some mistakenly think is about Chrisianity: "Life of Brian".
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Date: 2007-02-20 11:21 pm (UTC)I need to tell you all about the crazy sectarians I've been meeting.
And you used the PEMM icon!
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Date: 2007-02-21 11:34 am (UTC)The thing is, fascism has its attractions, and it plays on psychological flaws that many of us have. If it were not so, it wouldn't be dangerous.