Treme

[Internet Apex]

A lingering gander at post-storm New Orleans from the maker of The Wire, David Simon. First episode was incredible. Unless you're TDubbs, you'll love this show. If you are TDubbs, move to Georgia. Here's a review from Slate.

http://www.slate.com/id/2249852/

[Powdered Toast Man]

A lingering gander at post-storm New Orleans from the maker of The Wire, David Simon. First episode was incredible. Unless you're TDubbs, you'll love this show. If you are TDubbs, move to Georgia. Here's a review from Slate.

http://www.slate.com/id/2249852/

Fuck.  I missed it.  Glad to hear it's gotten good reviews.

[Internet Apex]

A lingering gander at post-storm New Orleans from the maker of The Wire, David Simon. First episode was incredible. Unless you're TDubbs, you'll love this show. If you are TDubbs, move to Georgia. Here's a review from Slate.

http://www.slate.com/id/2249852/

Fuck.  I missed it.  Glad to hear it's gotten good reviews.

It'll air again, dude. Don't you have OnDemand?

[Powdered Toast Man]

A lingering gander at post-storm New Orleans from the maker of The Wire, David Simon. First episode was incredible. Unless you're TDubbs, you'll love this show. If you are TDubbs, move to Georgia. Here's a review from Slate.

http://www.slate.com/id/2249852/

Fuck.  I missed it.  Glad to hear it's gotten good reviews.

It'll air again, dude. Don't you have OnDemand?

Of course.  I'm a balla.

[PenFoe]

A lingering gander at post-storm New Orleans from the maker of The Wire, David Simon. First episode was incredible. Unless you're TDubbs, you'll love this show. If you are TDubbs, move to Georgia. Here's a review from Slate.

http://www.slate.com/id/2249852/

Fuck.  I missed it.  Glad to hear it's gotten good reviews.

It'll air again, dude. Don't you have OnDemand?

Of course.  I'm a balla. I have Cox and it comes standard now.

Reality'd.

[Powdered Toast Man]

A lingering gander at post-storm New Orleans from the maker of The Wire, David Simon. First episode was incredible. Unless you're TDubbs, you'll love this show. If you are TDubbs, move to Georgia. Here's a review from Slate.

http://www.slate.com/id/2249852/

Fuck.  I missed it.  Glad to hear it's gotten good reviews.

It'll air again, dude. Don't you have OnDemand?

Of course.  I'm a balla. I have Cox and it comes standard now.

Reality'd.

Fuck you, PenFoe.

Also, I saw the first episode a couple days ago and I was under the impression (before I saw it) that it was a reality show.  I was surprised to see the dude from Sahara and Saving Silverman (among other things) in it.  Anyway, I liked what I saw.  I also liked that there weren't any stupid voodoo sacrifices in the streets or random Mardi Gras parades.

[Internet Apex]

A lingering gander at post-storm New Orleans from the maker of The Wire, David Simon. First episode was incredible. Unless you're TDubbs, you'll love this show. If you are TDubbs, move to Georgia. Here's a review from Slate.

http://www.slate.com/id/2249852/

Fuck.  I missed it.  Glad to hear it's gotten good reviews.

It'll air again, dude. Don't you have OnDemand?

Of course.  I'm a balla. I have Cox and it comes standard now.

Reality'd.

Fuck you, PenFoe.

Also, I saw the first episode a couple days ago and I was under the impression (before I saw it) that it was a reality show.  I was surprised to see the dude from Sahara and Saving Silverman (among other things) in it.  Anyway, I liked what I saw.  I also liked that there weren't any stupid voodoo sacrifices in the streets or random Mardi Gras parades.

**SPOLIER ALERT**

There's a voodoo sacrifice in episode 2 but I think the guy who performs it is some sort of local celebrity. And it's mostly done for comedic purposes.

[CBStew]

Last night's show ended on a false note.  It showed a group of neighbors mourning the death of a neighbor when a "Katrina Tour Bus" showed up with faceless tourists flashing light bulbs at them.  The leader of the wake chases the bus off telling them that it was disrespectful.  Of course it was, but the scene gave the impression that New Orleaneans resented outsiders and wanted to grieve their losses in private.  That was not my experience.  New Orleans wanted us outsiders to come and see what happened and to see what was not happening by way of recovery.  The city knew that indifference would have been fatal to recovery attempts.   (I thought that the organized tours were kind of ghoulish)

[Internet Apex]

Last night's show ended on a false note.  It showed a group of neighbors mourning the death of a neighbor when a "Katrina Tour Bus" showed up with faceless tourists flashing light bulbs at them.  The leader of the wake chases the bus off telling them that it was disrespectful.  Of course it was, but the scene gave the impression that New Orleaneans resented outsiders and wanted to grieve their losses in private.  That was not my experience.  New Orleans wanted us outsiders to come and see what happened and to see what was not happening by way of recovery.  The city knew that indifference would have been fatal to recovery attempts.   (I thought that the organized tours were kind of ghoulish)

Did you guys roll up on a funeral and snap pictures though? This show is set at the precise moment that people started picking up the pieces and finding out who survived - and who didn't. The tour buses and National Guard deployments weren't commonplace, weren't anybody's reality yet. This is like waking up from a nightmare, your eyes adjusting to the light and your life is completely altered and you don't even realize how yet.

At some point, people probably became angry and then numb and then hopeful. At some point they probably welcomed your tour bus and the revenue your visits generated. As long as you showed respect when appropriate.

These are all just my assumptions. I wasn't there.

[R-V]

Last night's show ended on a false note.  It showed a group of neighbors mourning the death of a neighbor when a "Katrina Tour Bus" showed up with faceless tourists flashing light bulbs at them.  The leader of the wake chases the bus off telling them that it was disrespectful.  Of course it was, but the scene gave the impression that New Orleaneans resented outsiders and wanted to grieve their losses in private.  That was not my experience.  New Orleans wanted us outsiders to come and see what happened and to see what was not happening by way of recovery.  The city knew that indifference would have been fatal to recovery attempts.   (I thought that the organized tours were kind of ghoulish)

Did you guys roll up on a funeral and snap pictures though? This show is set at the precise moment that people started picking up the pieces and finding out who survived - and who didn't. The tour buses and National Guard deployments weren't commonplace, weren't anybody's reality yet. This is like waking up from a nightmare, your eyes adjusting to the light and your life is completely altered and you don't even realize how yet.

At some point, people probably became angry and then numb and then hopeful. At some point they probably welcomed your tour bus and the revenue your visits generated. As long as you showed respect when appropriate.

These are all just my assumptions. I wasn't there.

When I watched that scene, I assumed it was just a ham-handed, fictional portrayal of David Simon's "fuck the tourists" take on New Orleans.

I had no idea there were actual tours like that - which is what it seems Stew is saying. Unbelievable. I should've known from the Wire, where some of the most ridiculous incidents

SPOILER ALERT IF YOU SUCK AND HAVEN'T WATCHED THE WIRE

- like Omar surviving his fall off the balcony - were based on real life.

[CBStew]

I didn't take the tour, but yes, there were tours, and the City encouraged people to take them.  My first visit to New Orleans after Katrina was with a group of AFL-CIO lawyers.  We rescheduled an annual meeting to go there instead of Chicago. The City of New Orleans was begging for people to come, spend money and to spread the word about what needed to be done and wasn't being done by the Bush administration. 

[Powdered Toast Man]

It pissed me off when the fat Morgan was beat up by the po-po after he scratched their unit with is bone.  I was hoping to hear him sing more.  He was decent.

I generally like Steve Zahn, but his character is sort of out of place.  Nobody acts like that guy.

[Internet Apex]

It pissed me off when the fat Morgan was beat up by the po-po after he scratched their unit with is bone.  I was hoping to hear him sing more.  He was decent.

I generally like Steve Zahn, but his character is sort of out of place.  Nobody acts like that guy.

I tend to agree with your assessment of Davis. But, as RV pointed out, he's probably based on a real dude who's probably exactly that strange. None of David Simon's characters are completely made up, though some are an amalgamation of a few different folks that really lived in the time and place he's portraying. Yeah, I'm pretty ghey for the guy. I'll try to keep my tongue out of his ass if I can.

[CBStew]

I posted this on the Boobtube board about Spike Lee's documentary in August of 2006, a year after Katrina:


  When the Levees Broke
« on: August 24, 2006, 09:50:17 AM »   

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No, this is not about Abe and Sadie's  investment in Glendon Rusch rookie cards.  It is Spike Lee's nightmarish 4 hour documentary about the impact of Katrina on New Orleans.  When I say "nightmarish" it is not hyperbole.  The program is shown on HBO over 2 days, and I had nightmares both nights.  The wife and I have spent a week in New Orleans for the Jazz Fest every year for the last 17 years.  I love the place and can't get over the ongoing tragedy.  We went back this year in May and we were stunned by the condition of the City and the people.  New Orleans has changed dramatically, and I think that the change will be permanent.  As of then the devastation is still there.  Mile after mile of destroyed neighborhoods.  Trash piled in the streets.  Buildings on top of cars.  Thousands of houses with blue plastic tarps instead of roofs which they can't get fixed.  Houses with codes painted on them indicating the number of bodies which were discovered inside. The population is smaller, and you notice that there are far fewer African Americans than there used to be.  Job opportunities are scarce.  The public schools are barely functioning.  Someday it will be back, but it will be gentrified and a Disneyland version of what it was.  Watch the show, or as much of it as you can tolerate, I had to turn away frequently.  Bush and Cheney get no passes from Lee, obviously, but the Democratic politicians don't come off much better.  The Army Corps of Engineers gets the  blame for the destruction of the levees, but the Bush Administration is repeatedly slammed for the subsequent neglect and the treatment of the "refugees".  They even have an interview with the doctor who interrupted a Cheney photo op with "Fuck You".

[Powdered Toast Man]

I posted this on the Boobtube board about Spike Lee's documentary in August of 2006, a year after Katrina:


  When the Levees Broke
« on: August 24, 2006, 09:50:17 AM »   

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No, this is not about Abe and Sadie's  investment in Glendon Rusch rookie cards.  It is Spike Lee's nightmarish 4 hour documentary about the impact of Katrina on New Orleans.  When I say "nightmarish" it is not hyperbole.  The program is shown on HBO over 2 days, and I had nightmares both nights.  The wife and I have spent a week in New Orleans for the Jazz Fest every year for the last 17 years.  I love the place and can't get over the ongoing tragedy.  We went back this year in May and we were stunned by the condition of the City and the people.  New Orleans has changed dramatically, and I think that the change will be permanent.  As of then the devastation is still there.  Mile after mile of destroyed neighborhoods.  Trash piled in the streets.  Buildings on top of cars.  Thousands of houses with blue plastic tarps instead of roofs which they can't get fixed.  Houses with codes painted on them indicating the number of bodies which were discovered inside. The population is smaller, and you notice that there are far fewer African Americans than there used to be.  Job opportunities are scarce.  The public schools are barely functioning.  Someday it will be back, but it will be gentrified and a Disneyland version of what it was.  Watch the show, or as much of it as you can tolerate, I had to turn away frequently.  Bush and Cheney get no passes from Lee, obviously, but the Democratic politicians don't come off much better.  The Army Corps of Engineers gets the  blame for the destruction of the levees, but the Bush Administration is repeatedly slammed for the subsequent neglect and the treatment of the "refugees".  They even have an interview with the doctor who interrupted a Cheney photo op with "Fuck You".

I will say this...the major tax base areas of the City of New Orleans, like Uptown, Mid City, and Lakeview are all blooming back to life.  People have been rolling up their sleeves for years trying to get things in order.  The population is smaller, but the heart and hospitality are still there.  The locals do an amazing job of supporting locally owned businesses and restaurants and always suggest to out-of-towners the same.  The near entirety of New Orleans East, predominately populated by blacks, hasn't returned.  There are still delapidated homes left behind by folks who just didn't want to come back or didn't have the means to, especially finding free stuff elsewhere.

It is a hokey thing to say about a town, but it's never been truer for any other--you can take a person out of New Orleans, but you can never take New Orleans out of the person.  I know...my wife and her family still have very deep roots there and her family has been there for generations.  I'm not a huge fan of the city, but it is chock full of great folks (my inlaws) and outstanding food and culture.  Most of which has returned to the heart of the City, like the French Quarter.

PS, the YouTube video of the girl wearing the Tulane sweatshirt hints at a rather strange Baton Rouge/New Orleans love/hate relationship.  There is sort of a Baton Rouge vs. New Orleans battle going on.