Confessions of a B-Movie Junkie
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
Drake's LiveJournal:
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| Thursday, March 2nd, 2006 | | 4:49 pm |
| | Wednesday, March 1st, 2006 | | 10:07 pm |
| | 7:10 pm |
Moving On
Well, I don't feel like doing my color theory homework (or anymore film homework for that matter) so I'll just make a silly post. Well, those of you who know me well know that I can't stick in one place for long. We moved around a lot in my childhood (although we did stick in Houston for a long time, we kept having preparations to move somewhere else that never developed because my dad is a bipolar psycho but that's another story). Since my mother's family is scattered all over the country and I've never really been local anywhere I've lived, I don't feel anchored to one spot by family or childhood friends. I've never really fit in anywhere anyway, so might as well keep moving and see lots of interesting places. Avidly watching City Confidential every day has sort of drawn my attention to some interesting American cities, so here's a bunch of places I would consider living. New Orleans (duh) Los Angeles (maybe it's reading so much Charles Bukowski and listening to Tom Waits, but looks like L.A. has plenty of lowlives and weirdos for me to be inspired by) Baltimore (although I'd probably be disappointed if it's not as whacky as John Waters has made it out to be) Memphis (can't go wrong with an old blues city - and Tennessee seems like an insane and interesting state) Charlotte (lots of film going on there now - and from what I saw on City Confidential it kind of reminded me of a smaller Houston with its combination of conservative business professionals and strong theater/music/artistic community - although there didn't seem to be any neighborhood as crazy as Montrose in good ol' H-town) Austin (Austin seems to have changed a lot - it's constantly growing, it's got lots of new restaurants, the ever-awesome Alamo Drafthouse Theater, The South by Southwest Film Festival which is one of the hippest film festivals in the country, a pretty big film community and lots of whacky people - remember their slogan is "Keep Austin Weird") or maybe even go back to Houston (at least for a little while) And of course, I'd come back to Savannah (my favorite place I've lived so far) After yesterday's City Confidential episode about Biloxi, MS I almost packed my bags and headed off their immediately. It kind of reminded me of Savannah but with more strippers, sleaze and racketeering (it was once home to a vicious band of Southern racketeers known as "The Dixie Mafia") - in other words, my kind of place! But at the end of the show, they mentioned that the strip clubs and the Dixie Mafia have been cleared out for huge casinos and tourist shops. Too bad. So perhaps my taste of places to live is a little bit off seeing that most people want to live settle down in a sane, sensible place. Sorry, I don't do well when surrounded by mainstream people - they kind of make me feel like projectile vomitting my liver across the room. Though my love for lowlives and oddballs isn't quite appreciated among my peer group (fuck you, generation of swine!) I can't help it -- I prefer the company of misfits, lowlives, freaks and weirdos. They're my people. And anyway, sane, sensible places are for wussies. "I don't hate people - I just like them better when they're not around." - Charles Bukowski Current Mood:  weird | | Sunday, February 26th, 2006 | | 10:38 pm |
The Bad Day to End All Bad Days
Well, the title isn't exactly true today was still a pretty bad day. I was barely able to get up this morning since most of this weekend I was going through some metabolic thingie. I spent most of the day in pajama pants attempting to work on my budget for preproduction which was confusing as hell. Why didn't we spend more time on this instead of two measely weeks at the end of the goddamn quarter? Now I'm stressed beyond belief about this thing and have no idea how I'm going to get it done and keep my sanity. And the worst part is, this probably wouldn't be so difficult and confusing if I had MORE TIME TO DO IT. Once again, fuck the quarter system. And I'm probably more distressed about it than I should be because I was getting straight A's for this quarter and I really want to keep it that way. So then after that I got to spend four hours painting. Add that to the four hours I spent painting on Saturday. I now never want to paint again. So now, for this week I get to turn in my project for color theory, go to the library and get books for my film history paper, begin working on my film history paper, try to understand how the hell to do this budget and get more work done on that while simultaneously trying to put together my binder for my final project for that same class. Oh yeah and did I mention that the surly rhinocerous-like maintenace man of Weston still hasn't repaired my heat and air-conditioning? It's been broken for a week so now it's freezing in here. And to top that off I just had the coldest damn shower I've ever had in my life because apparently Weston doesn't have any hot water today. So now I can't stop shaking. So, needless to say I'm not a very happy person right now and right now I really want this quarter to be over. But at the same time I don't because I really feel sad about having to leave Savannah. I guess I should go make an attempt to clean my side of the room because it looks like a tornado and an explosion occurred simultaneously. I meant to do it this weekend but a metabolic episode put a wrench into the works. *collapes on desk and dies* RIP Darren "Kolchak the Night Stalker" McGavin Current Mood:  stressed | | Thursday, February 23rd, 2006 | | 7:24 pm |
| | 2:53 pm |
Otis T. Campbell Still At Large
Perhaps some of you are wondering about the whereabouts of Otis T. Campbell. Or maybe some of you don't find white trash antics funny - if so, then why the hell are you reading my journal? Anyway, I admit, Otis T. has been lying low lately. The past week he's been drying out in a drunk tank in Sherman, Texas. He attempted to phone various friends and family up to bail him out, but unfortunately all of them had had their driver's licenses revoked for various offenses. The lovely Alice Langlois was tied up as well, facing some legal repercussions after smashing a FEMA worker in the face with an empty Southern Comfort bottle. Fortunately for Alice, he was so woozy (and generally lacking in IQ anyway) that he described her as a middle-aged black man and the people of Louisiana - since spotting a FEMA worker in Louisiana and Mississippi is like spotting the Easter bunny or Santa Claus - didn't buy that he was a FEMA worker anyway so all charges were dropped. She also got in a spot of trouble for driving naked through Alabama, though most of the citizenry didn't really seem to mind much. So, on her way to Las Vegas (dirty ol' town)to hide out for the weekend, she's going to swing through the Lone Star State and pick up Otis T. where they'll be free to wreak havoc throughout the U.S. once again. P.S. After all the eps of City Confidential -- they've showed Memphis, Chattanooga and Knoxville all this week -- I want to move to Tennessee! Especially Memphis. Wouldn't be a bad place to stay while New Orleans dries out. Although some people think I'm odd for wanting to. Drake: (watching City Con) Dammit, I'm moving to Tennessee! Roomie's Preppy Friend: Ewww. Drake: Wait, you know you're from New Hampshire, right? Seriously, anyone who's been to New Hampshire knows what I'm talking about - all there is is seedy liquor stores and people with mullets. Can Tennessee really be much worse? At least they have Jack N the Box, the best damn drive-through food EVER. Hmm sorry, I keep getting off tangent here. Current Mood: silly | | Wednesday, February 22nd, 2006 | | 5:50 pm |
Some Like It Hot...
The heat and air-conditioning in my room is broken and the surly rhino-like maintenance guy hasn't been in here to fix it yet (it's been that way since yesterday). I hope he comes soon - I'm sweating like Joe Spinell in Maniac!! Current Mood:  hot | | Tuesday, February 21st, 2006 | | 2:25 pm |
Chicago Horror Screenplay
All right, I'm determined to make it in the damn B-movie business no matter what. I'm still tearing my hair out because I never got an e-mail back about the production assistant job (well, I only e-mailed two days ago and it was an e-mail for more information so he most likely wouldn't tell me "You've got the job!" just yet anyway) and I'm also stressing about my preproduction class which suddenly turned into a barrage of information about budgeting (the most confusing part of the class to me anyway). But other than that I try to keep myself optimistic with other prospects: the company my friend Neal works for is looking for low-budget horror scripts centered on teen/twenty-something characters to be filmed in Chicago. I wouldn't have to submit a complete script just yet, just a logline and a two-page summary. So, here's pretty much what I came up with. Trying to think of Chicago story ideas I remembered the Richard Speck case (he broke into a house of student nurses and one by one raped and butchered all except one for my non-true crime readers). That was sort of a jumping off point as there's nothing more frightening than being attacked in a safe place like your home. So, here's the two ideas I came up with: their similar but different. Sorry if they're a little disorganized in spots. ( Read more... ) Current Mood:  determined | | Monday, February 20th, 2006 | | 5:44 pm |
Recant
OK, I'm prolly being too mean to my roomie (perhaps its what psychiatrists would call misplaced rage - but psychiatrists are a bunch of self-righteous, self-absorbed money-sucking humps) but still - I think a good DRUNKEN HORROR MARATHON is in order! Current Mood:  indifferent | | Sunday, February 19th, 2006 | | 12:13 pm |
| | 2:49 am |
Insomnia n stuff
Well, I can't sleep so I'm doing various stuff. Steph has got me hooked on Tanya Huff (thank you Steph! ;-D) and I've been checking Poppy Z. Brite's journal pretty much every other day (why? 'Cause I'm a nerd). One she's one of my favorite writers, and two, reading her posts about the hurricane aftermath in my favorite city is both reassuring and heart-breaking. Despite what most of the news reports are saying, New Orleans is still in a bad state of disrepair and as my mother found out before taking her old job back at Tulane, that it's not particularly a great time to pick up and move: little to no medical care is available and in many areas of the city there aren't even working traffic lights. And I just read in the Times-Picayune (the New Orleans paper for those that don't know) that had the government taken immediate action after the levee broke, 100s of lives could've been saved but oh no, our elected officials had to stick their thumbs up their asses and go Elmer Fudding around while American citizens lost their homes and lives. According to La Brite, New Orleanians and south Louisianians are getting increasingly angry with their treatment at the hand of the US government (FEMA has done less than nothing and the people of Louisiana and Mississippi haven't seen a dime of the donations to the Red Cross - gee, what a surprise) so perhaps they'll rise up and march to Washington D.C. to skin and fry those bureaucratic assholes like the pigs they really are. Hmm, I always thought I was a Socialist but apparently I'm an anarchist. Or maybe not. I just think it's time for things to change. Although since I haven't found anyone else who shares in my revolutionary spirit, change seems unlikely. On the other side, I've got two full-length screenplays I'm working on that sort of work out a lot of the themes I've been ranting about (self-absorption, superficiality, phoniness, injustice etc.). My friend Neal told me that the production company he works with in Chicago is looking for horror scripts with high school/college protagonists. So, the idea I've come up with so far is a young woman is kidnapped by a clean-cut, kind of nerdish guy she attends college with who has a strong infatuation with her. Of course, he also happens to be a disturbed serial killer who has been at large in the Chicagoland area. He remains uncaught however, as many of the disappearances haven't raised an eyebrow and the one rape/murder he did come under investigation for, he was able to escape all charges due to insufficient evidence (and more thanks to his family's wealth and status - particularly his father's position as a leading defense attorney). He subjects the girl to all kinds of torture, but she refuses to give in as his past victims did. Her ordeal is intercut with flashbacks of her past detailing her traumatic childhood that has equipped her to survive. She begins to manipulate him and slowly turn the tables on him. The other is the one I'm more excited about, sort of a werewolf story that's influenced mostly be THE WOLF MAN and George Romero's MARTIN. They haven't had a good werewolf movie in a little while, so I thought I'd give it a try. I'm just throwing ideas around at this point so if anyone has any comments, ideas or criticisms feel free to reply. Since it's past three a.m. and I have to get up and go to Hamilton to work on my film schedule for preproduction, I should read a little bit more about hottie vampires and go to bed. Goddamn, I wish I hadn't forgotten my headphones, it's a friggin' tomb in here. Oh wait, I already live with the living dead anyway so maybe it really IS a tomb. Current Mood:  pensive | | Saturday, February 18th, 2006 | | 8:03 pm |
Sunday, Cruddy Sunday
ARGH, where did my weekend go? I can't believe tomorrow's already Sunday. And I REALLY don't want to walk to Hamilton tomorrow (and it'll prolly be raining) and work on my crappy schedule. I'd almost rather just do it the old fashioned way where you have a giant posterboard and a dozen of color-coded strips then sit there on the computer. Maybe I'm an anachronism but I'm STILL suspicious of computers for a lot of things. And a lot of the time they DO end up crapping out when you really don't need them to. Somehow it's just more annoying to have to plug this into software -- if I can do it myself, why the hell do I need a computer to organize it for me? I HATE COMPUTERS!! And don't bother pointing out the irony that I'm using a computer to publicize my hatred for computers. And let's not forget the fact that for this class we have to save everything to CD-R. I HATE CD-R more than I HATE COMPUTERS!!! I bought a pack of them, got them home and then they didn't even work -- there was something wrong with them and the store won't allow you to return them if they've been opened (although since they don't work I think I should be able to exchange them for a pack that work, but it's a stupid world). Stupid Hamilton. Stupid software. Stupid Sunday. Oh yeah, and I still haven't caught up on all the reading I was supposed to do. Why? 'Cause I'm LAZY ;-D Oh well, at least my Valentine's gift to myself (I bought MANIAC and EVILSPEAK) should get here on Monday. More gore for the roomie ;-D And City Confidential is on -- tonight is Chattanooga, Tennessee. City Confidential isn't just a cool crime show, it also helps me decide where I want to live. After the Memphis, TN episode, I wanted to move there the next day! I used to want to go to Portland, OR but after seeing it on City Confidential, it looked like an art school-type town -- it seemed like everyone was trying to put up the APPEARANCE of being eccentric and artsy rather than actually BEING creative and weird and most of the people they interviewed (it was a case about a gang of skinheads who murdered an African immigrant -- too bad it wasn't my art history teacher from last quarter instead of some poor innocent guy) were pseudo-liberal douchebags who just kept repeating, "Well Portland is so liberal, nothing like that every happens here!" Uh, sure because everyone in Portland is WHITE!! It's pretty hard to have a race crime when everyone is white, ERRR! Besides, most of the people who keep talking about how liberal they are really aren't. I think after the Iowass debacle I'm more determined than ever not to get stuck in a suck-ass place again! Umm, sorry, I went off on a tangent. I'm gonna sign off now. Current Mood:  annoyed | | 5:07 pm |
Horror Fans, Christian Teens and Other Creatures
Good Lord, last night I was watching "The American Nightmare," a documentary about the social significance of horror films from the late sixties to early eighties (showing how things like the assassinations of MLK JR, JFK and Robert Kennedy, Kent State, Vietnam, the gas crisis and the move to affluence and consumerism). Well, my roomie comes home and not speaking to me as usual she takes one look at the TV, climbs into her bed and starts reading her Christian Teen Brainwashing Bible (y'know - one of those books in the Christian section of the bookstore that's supposed to help direct teens toward the straight and narrow and always has some cornball title like "Quest for Christ") and starts TAKING NOTES!!! Now, Leatherface doesn't frighten me. Zombies don't frighten me. But THAT sure as hell frightens me! I've never liked stuck-up goody-too-shoes. What was worse is, while it had a few clips from the movies it was mostly just interviews with people like George Romero, Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper, David Cronenberg etc! So if she's offended by THAT - Jesus! How's she ever gonna survive in the real world where there's a lot more frightening things than zombies and werewolves? Oh well. A lot of snobbery exists toward horror films. I get criticized by other film majors who ask me why I don't want to lend my creativity to "serious film." Well, for anyone who doesn't have their head up their ass, the horror genre is an excellent way to make social criticism and deal with the dark and horrifying things that occur in our culture. Horror films are a way to confront the dark side of human existence in a safe way. Those who criticize the genre also point out that a majority of horror fans are white working class male, often hailing from what is sneeringly referred to as "the bridge-and-tunnel crowd" (people who dwell in Brooklyn, Queens or New Jersey) or the Deep South. Those who sneer at the genre claim that it supplies dangerous fantasies for "rednecks." Perhaps if it weren't for their own class snobbery, these people would realize the images supplied by horror films aren't dangerous fantasies but a catharsis for these people. Horror films in a sense help them cope with the anger, rejection and disenfranchisement they feel for being denied "the American dream." I could go into a whole schpeel about that but I won't. And besides, if there was a zombie holocaust, the working class of Jersey, the NYC outer-burroughs and the Deep South would probably be the ones who would survive, not some rich candy-ass from the Upper West Side, so let's be nice to them OK? So no matter what people say about those folks, I still have a degree of like and admiration for them despite their flaws - because, hey, they're going to support my movie career! And I'd rather have a bunch of die-hard fans who consist of blue-collar slobs from Jersey and drunk rednecks from Georgia than make some boring picture like "The English Patient" that all the high-falutin people admire and gush praise over, but everyone else admits that it's really not that good. Sorry if this post was incoherent - I'm gonna go lie down and watch DAWN OF THE DEAD. Current Mood:  geeky | | Friday, February 17th, 2006 | | 12:50 pm |
Maniac strikes again!
Just wanted to add an additonal bit of trivia about MANIAC that I forgot to mention on the review post but it was so hilarious I thought it was worthy of a post all its own. The film's theme song was intended to be "Maniac" (you know, the eighties dance tune "I'm a mani-ac, mani-ac on the floor -") but it ended up not being used, so the lyrics were toned down and the song used for FLASHDANCE. Personally I find FLASHDANCE more frightening and disturbing than MANIAC, but I may be alone in that opinion... Current Mood:  bored | | Thursday, February 16th, 2006 | | 10:46 pm |
| | 7:25 pm |
| | Tuesday, February 14th, 2006 | | 5:13 pm |
St. Valentine's Day Massacre
Happy Valentine's Day drive-in fiends! Well, I really don't feel like working on my screenplay right now, and my roomie is sleeping so I can't watch City Confidential so I'll post this instead. Has anyone noticed how mean and grouchy everybody is on Valentine's Day? It's supposed to be a day to celebrate the loved one's in your life, but it generally results in people feeling sad or pissed off because they're single or aren't going to be having any sex today. Well, like a majority of the population, I'm not going to be getting any sex tonight either but I'm strangely cheerful. Although my day got off to kind of a weird start: since I was too lazy to do it yesterday, I had to get up a little bit earlier today and head to Ex-Libris to buy colored pencils for my color theory class. First of all, I'm an idiot because I thought today was Thursday, then realized "Dammit, it's stupid Tuesday!" Then I was just ultra-confused after I threw on a pair of pants and my Otis T. Campbell shirt (Steph knows what I'm talkin about! ;-D) and staggered to Cafe Bad and noticed all this "Happy Valentine's Crap!" around. "It's Valentine's Day? When did that happen? I'm so confused!" So I head to Ex-Libris. First, I can't get to the colored pencils because some girl who looks like a cross between a drag queen and Miss Piggy and her equally horrendous boyfriend are blocking that whole damn section of the aisle. Even after she noticed my attempts to get around her so I could just grab my stupid pencils and go, she made no effort to move. So, I finally am able to dodge her monsterous self and reach for a 24-pack of prismacolors for 13.99. As I'm reaching out, she suddenly grabs it and just walks off!! As I'm sitting there, various expletives swirling around my brain and getting ready to follow her through the store, clonk her on the head and take the goddamn pencils - I suddenly noticed a twelve pack for 9.99 which was a better deal so I thought to myself "Fuck you, She-male Miss Piggy" grabbed the pencils and giddily walked off, thinking to myself it's lucky for her Otis T. Campbell is unavailable, being treated in the hospital for minor injuries after he got in a drunken fistfight with his mother at a family reunion. So, time for color theory. People in the class were fighting and bitching at each other (moreso than usual, EEK!) and I found out I got an A on my last project (and Johnson kept it to use as an example for other classes) and I've got straight A's this quarter. Then I had lunch with Stephanie at Byte Cafe (one of the good places to eat on campus - much better than that evil Cafe Bad or even J.Ho's) which is always great :-D And for those that feel bad for being single on Valentine's Day (or are just having a bad day for other reasons) don't feel bad. I'm ordering some B horror movies as a Valentine's present to myself and spend the night finishing up my screenplay. Even though the themes in it are kind of heavy-handed (hey, I only had twenty pages to make my point) I'm still pretty proud of it so far. It's got all the crucial elements: a serial killer, a twisted girl, a Lee Harvey Oswald zombie, a moonlit graveyard and chainsaw-fu. As I was writing it, I realized I've just remade the movie "Maniac" as a black comedy. Stay tuned, 'cause if you've got nothing to do tonight (and if I finish my screenplay) I'll post a special Valentine's Day review of "Maniac" - because everyone needs some serial killin' lovin'. Carl Kolchak for president! Current Mood:  chipper | | Monday, February 13th, 2006 | | 10:49 pm |
| | 4:47 pm |
Generation of Swine
Well, I don't know why but I feel like ranting about stuff that's bothering me. And not really in the art school "I'm so angsty way." Somehow it just feels better to get this stuff off my chest. Oh yeah, and for those that don't know, I stole my subject title from Hunter S. Thompson. Yes, I'm terrible. Yesterday I posted a long rant about my anger over the public and government reaction to the damage done by Hurricane Katrina to Louisiana and Mississippi. It's weird, I keep trying to figure out why it bothers me so much. Of course, it hurts seeing the devastation occurred to New Orleans but no matter what they will rebuild. New Orleans will always refuse to die, no matter what happens and that's why I love that city. (They should make their new motto - "Fuck Global Warming! We're New Orleans - we'll keep partying!") My mom actually got an offer for her old job in development at Tulane -- she was one of their best and now they desperately need people like her back. She couldn't take the job immediately though, not until they get medical care back up and running because we can't move there with my brother without medical care. Mississippi almost makes me feel worse: now I've only driven through Mississippi and I don't have any relatives or friends there (that I know of - my mother's relatives are so spread out we don't know where half of them are). Aside from a brief trip to Gulfport (which is really beautiful by the way) when I was a toddler is all the contact I've really had. Still, it really hurts me to see so much devastation and no one really caring or showing any compassion. I guess that's really what bothers me. As Hunter S. Thompson would put it, we're a generation of swine. 99.9% of people are so wrapped up in their own angst, generally over weeny-high-school problems which causes me to frequently snap and scream it people "Quit being a WUSSY!" Hell, if I can survive a bipolar alcoholic father, an autistic brother with frequent seizures, Catholic school, abusive inbred midwesterners and some kind of metabolic problem and STILL LAUGH ABOUT IT what the hell is everyone else's problem? Quit being a wussy, and climb off the cross, we can use the wood. People used to be raised with the belief that they were a member of a community and as a member, they were supposed to contribute to that community and better that community. You were supposed to behave kindly and politely to others. You were supposed to feel compassion for those who were less fortunate than you. Now, children are raised with the attitude that it's all about them, that nothing can be said to hurt their self-esteem, the world should revolve around them because they are the most wonderful child on the face of the earth and can do no wrong. Parents and schools enforce the value that everyone should be a leader (what happened to teamwork? And did anyone notice the inherent flaw that if everyone's a leader then there's no one to follow and the system collapses?), another factor that just makes children more self-possessed: people are supposed to follow ME. Community service isn't done for the benefit of the community, but because it'll look good on a college application. The result is a generation of foul narcissists who care little about the world around them and the people who inhabit it. A majority of people now think that everything in the world exists to please and revolve around them. They have no responsibilities. They have no need to serve or help others. There's no compassion. There's no pity. There's only shallow, superficial self-absorption. Nobody really seems to believe in anything anymore. Political discussions among peers usually boils down to things like, "Bush is an idiot!" or "Bush is awesome!" A majority of people you will talk to in my age group will be able to defend either of these positions. Nobody questions authority at all. The generation of self-absorbed swine just does what its told without questioning because it brings shallow rewards. People always seem surprised when I question things. Most of the time, when complaining about how idiotically something is done (whether as high up as the federal government or as low down as a school administration) people usually respond with, "Well, that's just the way it is." Why? Why does it have to be that way? Isn't there a more effective way to run things? Couldn't it be run differently in a way that would bring more benefits to more people? Generally when I come up with my idea for an alternate solution, I get a, "Oh yeah, I guess you could do it that way." I never thought I was political but I guess I am. I despise the federal government (particularly this administration) because it does little to nothing to help its citizens. It's function appears mainly to line the pockets of the rich. Everyone else gets shafted. Politicians always bring up education, but that's another lie. Politicians don't WANT an educated public. If everyone is kept poor and stupid then they won't be able to question how their country is being run and whether the people they have elected are actually doing their job to serve the people. All right, I realize this rant is getting WAAAY too long but for some reason all of this stuff has been bothering me a lot (well, it's always bothered me but I guess the thoughts have just been more crystallized and with the vitamins and Biotin allowing me to process proteins more normally I actually have the energy to feel irate about things again). I just had to write a screenplay for my preproduction class -- it's a dark comedy about a serial killer in which a lot of the themes I talk about here come into play. It's actually pretty funny, I think. Who says a movie with serial killers and chainsaws can't make social comment? If George Romero can do it, so can I. As time goes on, I get more and more outraged at the way things are and push for change. Then I'm surprised at how content others appear to be to just sit back and do nothing. It's easier - as long as nothing effects them directly they'll just sit back and follow the rules the way they taught you in school. Don't question the teacher, just shut up and spit back what you're taught and everything will be fine. Well, I sure as hell didn't follow the rules and blindly accept what authority figures told me when I was in Catholic school and I'm sure as hell not going to now. Otis T. Campbell and the Hostess will return! Current Mood: mellow | | Sunday, February 12th, 2006 | | 12:50 pm |
The Big Easy, Hurricane Katrina and One Big Ol' Rant In Which I Advocate Killing Several People
I feel strong compassion for the people who lost their homes (or worst yet, their lives) to Hurricane Katrina. I grew up near the Gulf Coast so maybe it hits home more than for other people. I never formally lived in New Orleans but during my early years and up until my teens it was home away from home. My parents both worked at Tulane and lived in New Orleans for six years, right up until I was born when my father lost his job (he's a psycho/idiot, I'll be honest) upon which we moved to Houston. Still, there's something about New Orleans that once you get a taste of it, you can't get enough, so my mother kept going back, taking me along with her. Before we started seeing the neurologist in San Antonio for my brother's autism and epilepsy, we took him to Tulane. I don't know what it was about New Orleans, but something always told me that that was the place I really belonged. And coming from someone who doesn't really fit in anywhere (I haven't really been "local" anywhere and since my family lives all over the US I'm not really tied to one spot the way others are) and would rather move from place to place than stick in one city, that says a lot. So needless to say, I've been following all the reports about rebuilding New Orleans, southern Louisiana and southern Misssissippi. But what do I find other than an opinions article written by a woman saying that it's just smarter to start deconstructing New Orleans as it's only a matter of time before it's under water anyway, supporting her opinions with statements from "experts" saying that a city should've never been built in that location anyway and "New Orleans would rather be a lake." At first taken aback by her complete lack of compassion, for a moment I tearfully wondered "Maybe she's right" then realized that she was just what they refer to in Georgia as "Anotha dumbass Yankee." For one, all of the "experts" were geoscience/environmental science at schools like St. Louis University: in other words, these are the people who teach the "rocks for jocks" classes (y'know, the classes that jocks and slackers take because it's notoriously easy) and aren't professionals (and definitely not experts) in the field. Second of all, I thought of two more things that punch holes in her arguement (well, at least I think so). New Orleans hasn't had a hurricane for almost twenty years, so why after Katrina is suddenly everyone saying - "Oh, it just wasn't meant to last. Let's just level it and get it over with." And even if it was a poor spot to raise a city, it's been standing for over 200 years, what makes them think it can't stand for another 200? Severe hurricanes that hit places like the Gulf Coast tend to move in cycles and a severe one only occurs every 15/20 years or so (sorry, I saw that in an interview with a meteorologist - unlike Miss Bitch-hog's newspaper opinion article, this guy was an actual meteorologist and not a teacher at University for Fuck Ups and Retards) so why not go ahead and rebuild and figure out what precautions need to be made for the next severe hurricane? Second, many don't remember but most of the damage in New Orleans was caused by the levey breaking (which should have been rebuilt, but government funds for rebuilding the levey was denied to Louisiana repeatedly. Why? Because our current administration is run by people who have less brains than a yak's ass) and the damage from the actual hurricane was pretty minimal. And further yet, when California was ravaged by a series of earthquakes (that caused extensive damage and occurred more frequently than one storm) nobody said, "Fuck California, they're going to split off the US anyway." Florida gets ravaged by storms yearly and nobody says, "Fuck Florida, they're always getting hit by storms." So why the almost hostile attitude towards helping the Gulf Coast? It's the first severe storm to hit there in almost twenty years (and it's far worse than Besty, which it sometime in the early 80s). It really bothers me that the attitude of most is just "Well, it's an inconvenience to me, so fuck them, just level those cities and move on." That's someone's home. People have families, lives and jobs there. How would those others who are saying "Just level the whole place" feel if some horrible catastrophe struck THEIR home? Then they'd be begging for help and wondering why no one was doing anything about their loss, wouldn't they? It just bothers me more than anything that these people have experienced so much loss and tragedy and nobody cares. Our government is barely lifting a finger to help any of them because all of our money is tied up in a fruitless war that has accomplished little more than the loss of the lives of several young men. I think people are getting more self-absorbed and superficial with each passing year. The prevailing attitude is "it's all about me" or "if it doesn't have to do with me, then I don't care." There's no compassion or a shred of empathy for anyone else anymore. I feel worse for the people in Mississippi: New Orleans will rebuild (even if it takes a long time) because there are locals who feel strongly enough about their city to fight until it's done. Mississippi on the other hand, suffered far worse damage than New Orleans and it doesn't look like there's much being done to repair it. Aside from Anderson Cooper, I don't think anyone's even covering the damage and progress of the areas struck by Katrina. Nobody cares. If it isn't about them it doesn't matter. Somehow it still shocks me how self-centered and hateful people really are, particularly for their fellow Americans who have experienced so much tragedy. As for the woman who wrote the opinion article, I vote a bunch of irate New Orleanians storm her home, gouge out both her eyes, yank out all her fingernails and toenails with a rusty pair of pliers, then cut off her head with a chainsaw and parade it around on a stick during Mardi Gras. That'll teach her to be such an insensitive, spiteful cunt ;-D Current Mood: pissed off |
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