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Saturday, July 28, 2007
new hobby
after this somewhat hectic busy week at work i've been looking forward to the weekend (well techincally my days off in the middle of the week... i have to work weekends normally).
rather then spend my time off doing the same old same old i've decided i need to expand my life expereince and try some new things... after all i did come down here to new zealand to try a new go at existence.
so to start off with i've made my way to the beach cause frankly i haven't been here in far TOO long! boy do i remember how much i LOVE the beach too!
frankly there's only so much just hanging out and looking at the beauty one can do though, and i figured i might need to bring something for backup doing (aren't you impressed? me with my tiny brain figured this one out!)
after exploring the maori gallery in the museum this week i was given an idea of something i could try out...
one of the neatest artifacts i thought was maori fishing hooks and tools which gave me the idea why not try fishing?
rather then spend my time off doing the same old same old i've decided i need to expand my life expereince and try some new things... after all i did come down here to new zealand to try a new go at existence.
so to start off with i've made my way to the beach cause frankly i haven't been here in far TOO long! boy do i remember how much i LOVE the beach too!
frankly there's only so much just hanging out and looking at the beauty one can do though, and i figured i might need to bring something for backup doing (aren't you impressed? me with my tiny brain figured this one out!)
after exploring the maori gallery in the museum this week i was given an idea of something i could try out...
one of the neatest artifacts i thought was maori fishing hooks and tools which gave me the idea why not try fishing?
so i brought with me to the beach my brand new fishing rod that i picked up at the warehouse (a store where the song assures me "everyone gets a bargain") to try out fishing...
one of the benefits of having a job again... i have money to buy things like this!
you know even though it's just me standing here doing pretty much nothing... i'm liking fishing... despite my short attention span (hey can you blame a dude with a brain the size of a peanut not being able to focus well?) i have two things to do!
first is to make sure that my fishing line and pole are doing their thing, and then when i'm starting to zone out i have beautiful ocean to look at...
after an hour of nothing happening though i was starting lose a little bit of heart... humans have been fishing for thousands of years, and yet i couldn't catch a single fish after a few hours!?!
don't they say there are hundreds of fish in the sea?
then suddenly there was tug on my line... having watched a show on fishing many years ago in drumheller i remembered this is what one is waiting for when they are fishing! i started to reel in my line... the thrill and exceleration from this struggle of life an death... what could it possibly be on the end of my line?
well okay so my first catch ever isn't exactly going to get me on any fishing magazine covers, but at least i caught something!!!
obviously going to have to try fishing again, and soon. i bought the rod might as well use it, and hey i had a lot of fun... almost too much in the moments of reeling in my bootfish... something deep with in my dinosaurian instincts was being fanned by the thrill of the "hunt"... granted fishing was more a pursuit of theropods of baryonx or spinosaurus, but i think i'm going to risk being a rebel t-rex and have another go... keep you posted people of the web wide world...
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
diverse museum
well apart from the unsettling and kinda scary event of the other night things have stuck to the nice and stable end of the spectrum...
work carries on perfectly predictable in it's uneventfulness...
that is minus the one outstanding assignment i've left uncompleted...
that assignment of course being how ms. rhonwyn told me i had to explore all the museum galleries so i could improve my knowledge of the museum, and thus guard it better...
i've already checked out both the prehistoric and modern natural history galleries of the 3rd floor, but the galleries of the 2nd still remained a mystery... till today!
taking two large chunks of time out of my patrol of the lobby today i set out intent to get the WHOLE museum under my belt...
work carries on perfectly predictable in it's uneventfulness...
that is minus the one outstanding assignment i've left uncompleted...
that assignment of course being how ms. rhonwyn told me i had to explore all the museum galleries so i could improve my knowledge of the museum, and thus guard it better...
i've already checked out both the prehistoric and modern natural history galleries of the 3rd floor, but the galleries of the 2nd still remained a mystery... till today!
taking two large chunks of time out of my patrol of the lobby today i set out intent to get the WHOLE museum under my belt...
my first break i decided i'd take on the pacific cultures gallery...considering how small the museum is (globally speaking mind you... for a museum it's a fair sized one) they sure crammed a lot of the pacific in here!
this display area is dedicated to the various cultures that live on islands throughout the worlds biggest ocean... who knew there were so many? well not me anyways in answer to that question...
the first thing one is greeted by is a wall of boats! so many different kinds was really cool!
further into the gallery there is a dozen or so display cases, and in each on there is a single culture... meaning that there is around a dozen cultures represented in here!!!
the items and artifacts on display in these cases varies from masks, sculptures, jewelery, clothes, tools, to weapons, and even whole boats! your typical human museum fair really...
not my area of "expertise" but then again with at brain as small as mine what would be such an area LOL
entering the main chamber of this multi roomed gallery was a movie. i couldn't afford the time needed to stick around a watch the film (which probably could make me a lot more proficient in this gallery) tonight as i had a WHOLE floor to cover while also guarding so i had to press on my tour of the pacific islands...
wow there was a big stickish thing at the very end of the gallery that looked kinda important based on the display mount... have to be sure and come back later to learn more about this thing, but again had so little time just know it's here for future reference...
now when people who live on islands are typically shown on TV and in books their depicted as pretty friendly and nice people, but man based on a few of the displays of their weapons they look as scary and well equipped for trouble as a team of navy seals (man i don't want to picture military associated seals... i lived with a few when i first moved here, and ordinary seals are no fun!)
wow they have some cool but creepy statues too... this fish was cool in a spooky kinda way...
overall i think my favorite thing in the whole gallery though had to be the cool and crazy masks these guys made and used!**************************
now with that gallery explored i only had one more permanent exhibit to go... but it would have to wait until later in my shift. fortunately uncomplicated this plan nothing of interest or bother occurred. so off on another round of exploring i went...
this time a truly new zealand gallery... the one on the maori... new zealands indigenous people
they have some really pretty artifacts i have to say... according to one of the signs the various artifacts in this case are made of either bone (whale?!? oh no!) or stuff called green stone (i wonder if it's the same stuff that kills superman???)... again real pretty... and kinda shiny...
at first i thought these were big carvings to help remind maori children about punctuation in the form of an explanation mark, but reading the display i discovered these were actually clubs! (but they shouldn't be used on me as i just used the punctuation mark of their like in that sentence!) these green stone tools are real important to the maori i've deduced as they appear in almost every display case... must also be worth something too, as i can't help but notice considerable amounts of security equipment in this gallery have. important to note as the security guard!
one of my favorite displays was on how they DIG up evidence of ancient maori stuff... yeah you read that right people of the innerweb... they dig maori remains up just like fossils!well okay not "just" like, but similar enough that i really got what this display was about... fine tune digging, mapping, and collecting... takes me back to the glory days at the tyrrell when i got to dig...
man the maori have really cool carvings! really tall and intricate... i just wish i knew what they meant or represented... i'll have to come back later and spend some time figuring that out too...
come to think of it these remind of some of the cool carvings made by canadian first nations people i saw in north vancouver during my BC quest
this is also the site of a cool maori building (which i learnt is actually just a model of a MUCH bigger version of this building). all those sparkles you see in the photo are the reflection off shells that are embedded in the carvings of the building... making the eyes seem alive...
that was a cool as gallery... i just wish i had more to time to check it out (which i will make later) cause i didn't learn a lot about the specifics about the maori...
it didn't help that this gallery had a lot of real maori words for stuff in here... i have problems with human language at the best of times that alone when it is one i don't speak...
oh well ms. rhownyn will be happy that i finished my tour of the museum here today...
i even picked up a traditional maori ritual for greeting people. you simple get in close and touch noses... which as you can see in this last photo i'm doing to one of the maori sculptures to welcome myself into this section of the building. cause i intend on coming back here again soon...
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
mustn't be afraid...
okay people of the innerweb i don't want to sound like i'm going crazy or anything, but i think the botanic garden is haunted...
now before you label me as crazy or scared of the dark (come to think of it i am kinda scared of the dark... i should get a few spot lights today so that i can light up my home tonight!!!) here's what happened...
so like every night i diligently made sure i was home before dark (in addition to being kinda terrified to the max in the lack of light the park isn't lite at night so i'd have to find my way through the scary pitch black). as there's not much to do in the woods at night i went to sleep like every other night... only this wasn't like every other night...
now i can sleep content normally in new zealand as they don't have ANY remotely scary native animals (well out of the water anyway)... little did i know it was habitated by spooks!
now before you label me as crazy or scared of the dark (come to think of it i am kinda scared of the dark... i should get a few spot lights today so that i can light up my home tonight!!!) here's what happened...
so like every night i diligently made sure i was home before dark (in addition to being kinda terrified to the max in the lack of light the park isn't lite at night so i'd have to find my way through the scary pitch black). as there's not much to do in the woods at night i went to sleep like every other night... only this wasn't like every other night...
now i can sleep content normally in new zealand as they don't have ANY remotely scary native animals (well out of the water anyway)... little did i know it was habitated by spooks!
at 2am i was awoken by voices. at first in my sleepy daze i thought i was still dreaming... that is till i saw the LIGHT!!!
if you don't believe me just look at this picture!!!!!!
a bright moving light... that made it's way from the dell's entrance towards ben's fabled maze...
while it moved by on the path above me i distinctly heard voices... two of them i think, and though i didn't make out most of what they said to each other (cause they were only close for a second) i could have swore i heard one of them say "otago museum"... which just makes this sounds crazier now that i think about it...
now i'm not making this up people of the web wide world! something really really weird and freaky happened last night! i know you're probably saying that ben's story about the scary maze i supposedly live on the edge of has me rattled... maybe a little... NOW...
i'm serious this wasn't something my peanut sized brain dreamed up (again i have a picture to prove i saw something!). i think there's a cemetery around here somewhere... maybe the ghosts are using the dell as a short cut...
i'm REALLY scared of ghosts... so i hope this is one of those times that i'm wrong (which is fortunately most of the time... except when i predict bad things like this...)
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Wimbledon - 2004 - DVD
Friday, July 13, 2007
I'm a big Kirsten Dunst fan. I'm going to use that as my excuse for why I made such a concerted (never mind belated) effort to see Wimbledon, a romantic comedy that rushed through its plot so fast there are actually two stories lost in its haste. The first is the romantic plot between Dunst and Bettany's characters that strangely occurs when he walks into her hotel room by mistake. She is in the shower at this point, naked, alone, and here comes a stranger bursting through the doors of her private room. Perhaps this is part of the Kirsten Dunst charm that I admire so much, that way of flirtatiously maneuvering her way through conflict without batting an eye. That said, she continues to shower like it ain't no thing that a very tall man, who at this point should be considered a stalker at best and a murderer at worst, has just bust through her front door. Some semblance or realism would have been appropriate at this juncture--perhaps Ms. Dunst feigning a touch of panic? But if she's so disinterested by strangers wandering into her room, I figure why bother locking the door at all? A sign with markered arrows might as well be taped to her front door, "Stalkers, Creepy Strangers Enter Here!"
The second story involves the two lovers' tennis careers; he is old(er) and rickety, she is young, fast, and managed by her father who forbids the two from dating. Spoiler: they date anyway.
I'm a big Kirsten Dunst fan. I'm going to use that as my excuse for why I made such a concerted (never mind belated) effort to see Wimbledon, a romantic comedy that rushed through its plot so fast there are actually two stories lost in its haste. The first is the romantic plot between Dunst and Bettany's characters that strangely occurs when he walks into her hotel room by mistake. She is in the shower at this point, naked, alone, and here comes a stranger bursting through the doors of her private room. Perhaps this is part of the Kirsten Dunst charm that I admire so much, that way of flirtatiously maneuvering her way through conflict without batting an eye. That said, she continues to shower like it ain't no thing that a very tall man, who at this point should be considered a stalker at best and a murderer at worst, has just bust through her front door. Some semblance or realism would have been appropriate at this juncture--perhaps Ms. Dunst feigning a touch of panic? But if she's so disinterested by strangers wandering into her room, I figure why bother locking the door at all? A sign with markered arrows might as well be taped to her front door, "Stalkers, Creepy Strangers Enter Here!" The second story involves the two lovers' tennis careers; he is old(er) and rickety, she is young, fast, and managed by her father who forbids the two from dating. Spoiler: they date anyway.
The Earrings of Madame de... - 1953 - Film
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Better late than never...
The Fourth of July was spent, appropriately enough for a film nerd, inside of a cool movie theater watching Max Ophuls's classic, and probably most famous film, The Earrings of Madame de... The highly regarded opening shot swoops through Louise's (Danielle Darrieux) dressing room where she picks over her wardrobe of expensive furs, jewelry and dresses--with not a single camera cut to interrupt the action--finally settling upon a pair of earrings, which she will sell to pay debt. No ordinary dangles, these bejeweled beauties were a gift from her husband, the unlovable and possessive Général André (Charles Boyer), who learns of her betrayal though never confronts her about it. Fatefully, the earrings pass among owners until they fall into the hands of Louise's lover, Baron Fabrizio Donati (Vittorio De Sica), and Louise is gifted with the jewels once again. Her husband who has always been suspicious of her affair now, finally has proof.
The real beauty of the film emerges at this point, when the rather spoiled Louise becomes tragically sympathetic as she is forbidden contact with her true love; Général André has her locked in a room under close watch and with full knowledge that Louise no longer loves him. He is a man so jealously insecure that he has caged himself into a relationship that will always hold a void of tenderness and care. In the most profound show of affection, in silence and long-distance, Louise and Fabrizio are bound together in love--even if they can't physically be together.
Better late than never...The Fourth of July was spent, appropriately enough for a film nerd, inside of a cool movie theater watching Max Ophuls's classic, and probably most famous film, The Earrings of Madame de... The highly regarded opening shot swoops through Louise's (Danielle Darrieux) dressing room where she picks over her wardrobe of expensive furs, jewelry and dresses--with not a single camera cut to interrupt the action--finally settling upon a pair of earrings, which she will sell to pay debt. No ordinary dangles, these bejeweled beauties were a gift from her husband, the unlovable and possessive Général André (Charles Boyer), who learns of her betrayal though never confronts her about it. Fatefully, the earrings pass among owners until they fall into the hands of Louise's lover, Baron Fabrizio Donati (Vittorio De Sica), and Louise is gifted with the jewels once again. Her husband who has always been suspicious of her affair now, finally has proof.
The real beauty of the film emerges at this point, when the rather spoiled Louise becomes tragically sympathetic as she is forbidden contact with her true love; Général André has her locked in a room under close watch and with full knowledge that Louise no longer loves him. He is a man so jealously insecure that he has caged himself into a relationship that will always hold a void of tenderness and care. In the most profound show of affection, in silence and long-distance, Louise and Fabrizio are bound together in love--even if they can't physically be together.
SiCKO - 2007 - Film
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Michael Moore has gotten a lot of grumbles from critics in the past, but his latest documentary on the ailing U.S. healthcare system, SiCKO is an exception to his truth-bending past. Whereas a film like Fahrenheit 9/11 played out more like a personal vendetta against President Bush, SiCKO is a lot less vindictive, and whole lot more substantial, and most importantly, relevant. The profiles of U.S. citizens who were forced to pay thousands of dollars for emergency healthcare juxtaposed against those in Canada, Britain and France who pay not a single cent out of pocket, indeed brought the audience I was with to frequent cheers, applause, gasps, and by the end, plenty of tears.
The thesis of his film is centered on one question: How could the richest nation in the world have one of the poorest healthcare systems?
The short answer is capitalism. Healthcare companies make buckets of cash in the business, and because the unhealthy are a risk to company profits they don't qualify for coverage. What makes Moore's film so compelling is that the issue he dissects is one that effects everyone rather personally: we all need to go to the doctor, and we all deserve to be cared for in an equal way, despite our class or social status.
Personally, I find this the most satisfying and inspiring of Moore's films, partially because he is absent for most of the first half, letting the film's characters reveal their stories a little less forcefully. This was also his funniest film to date, highlighted by his Canadian aunt and uncle's trip to buy traveler’s health insurance before they cross the nearby border in Michigan, and finally, his trip to Guantanamo Bay with disease-stricken 9/11 rescue workers. The latter also shows us the most touching stories of the film, in particular, a woman who pays hundreds of dollars for a medical inhaler in the U.S. pays nickels for the same product in Cuba.
That woman lost her job after 9/11, is on disability, and pays 20% of her monthly income on only one of her medications. It's a supreme injustice, and Moore tells it sympathetically without alienating the audience with political diatribes (perhaps he got most of that out of his system in Fahrenheit 9/11.) And that's the best part of his film, that after years of ranting and venting about the state of U.S. politics he's ready to make change. Leaving the film, there was a genuine sense of productivity. I got the sense that we all knew too much to settle for how things are now. It's no coincidence that healthcare reform is one of the leading issues up for debate in next year's presidential election. Whoever wins the office, Democrat or Republican, it seems unavoidable that healthcare will be near the top of their administration's agenda.
Michael Moore has gotten a lot of grumbles from critics in the past, but his latest documentary on the ailing U.S. healthcare system, SiCKO is an exception to his truth-bending past. Whereas a film like Fahrenheit 9/11 played out more like a personal vendetta against President Bush, SiCKO is a lot less vindictive, and whole lot more substantial, and most importantly, relevant. The profiles of U.S. citizens who were forced to pay thousands of dollars for emergency healthcare juxtaposed against those in Canada, Britain and France who pay not a single cent out of pocket, indeed brought the audience I was with to frequent cheers, applause, gasps, and by the end, plenty of tears. The thesis of his film is centered on one question: How could the richest nation in the world have one of the poorest healthcare systems?
The short answer is capitalism. Healthcare companies make buckets of cash in the business, and because the unhealthy are a risk to company profits they don't qualify for coverage. What makes Moore's film so compelling is that the issue he dissects is one that effects everyone rather personally: we all need to go to the doctor, and we all deserve to be cared for in an equal way, despite our class or social status.
Personally, I find this the most satisfying and inspiring of Moore's films, partially because he is absent for most of the first half, letting the film's characters reveal their stories a little less forcefully. This was also his funniest film to date, highlighted by his Canadian aunt and uncle's trip to buy traveler’s health insurance before they cross the nearby border in Michigan, and finally, his trip to Guantanamo Bay with disease-stricken 9/11 rescue workers. The latter also shows us the most touching stories of the film, in particular, a woman who pays hundreds of dollars for a medical inhaler in the U.S. pays nickels for the same product in Cuba.
That woman lost her job after 9/11, is on disability, and pays 20% of her monthly income on only one of her medications. It's a supreme injustice, and Moore tells it sympathetically without alienating the audience with political diatribes (perhaps he got most of that out of his system in Fahrenheit 9/11.) And that's the best part of his film, that after years of ranting and venting about the state of U.S. politics he's ready to make change. Leaving the film, there was a genuine sense of productivity. I got the sense that we all knew too much to settle for how things are now. It's no coincidence that healthcare reform is one of the leading issues up for debate in next year's presidential election. Whoever wins the office, Democrat or Republican, it seems unavoidable that healthcare will be near the top of their administration's agenda.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
New Film Preview: Heat Wave: An Unnatural Disaster
July 18, 2007
Please excuse my absence recently! I was hired as a research assistant for Judith Helfand, a documentary filmmaker whose newest film Heat Wave: An Unnatural Disaster is in research and production in Chicago this summer.
The work has been time consuming for sure, and that accounts for leaving this blog to rest untouched for as long as I have, though more importantly, the work has been an eye-opening re-introduction to Chicago as I approach my one-year anniversary in this city. The film looks at the 1995 heat wave in Chicago that killed over 700 people, mostly poor, black and elderly citizens living in rough social and housing conditions that prevented them from receiving basic aid, that is, a way to cool down.
I've heard from a lot of people since I began the project who lived in Chicago in July 1995, and many more who still do. I thought it proper to introduce some of the facts and history about the event to satisfy the curiosity of Chicagoans who have heard about the film, and furthermore, to bring light to the topic for a wider audience who may not know about the heat wave at all. Illuminating what happened that one week in July is more than a brief lesson in Chicago history, rather, it sheds light on the kind of social perils and inequalities that continue to haunt urban spaces still today.
The film's thesis is based on Sociologist Eric Klinenberg's book "Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago," which is widely available for interested readers. Roughly 250 pages, Klinenberg's book takes a look at a number of factors that contributed to the high death rate, including the slow response of Mayor Daley and his administration, the local media that was reluctant to cover the event as a disaster, and some very personal accounts from survivors and medical workers alike. In looking at the massive heat wave that brought temperatures as high as 106 degrees combined with a humidity factor that made it feel like it was over 120 degrees, Klinenberg was able to prove that the disaster was an abhorrent example of a severely disabled urban society and government.
People too poor to afford a fan, and too afraid to leave their homes for fear of the violence outside their front doors, literally baked to death inside. Some were too afraid to even open a window. Others refused to accept air conditioning units given out of charity because they couldn't afford the electricity bill. Meanwhile, those with enough money to own and run air conditioning, in general, a population whiter and wealthier, collectively overloaded the local utility company, Commonwealth Edison's generators; for days some went without any electricity at all.
Citywide hundreds of fire hydrants were illegally opened for respite from the heat, only compounding the disaster as the city's water pressure dropped so low that some residents didn't even have running water. Mayor Daley was on vacation when the heat hit; upon his return he spawned a PR campaign that deflected responsibility, even partially, for the matter. Police cars holding decedents outside the city morgue sat 17 in line, the morgue was full, and refrigerated semi-trucks were donated to hold the hundreds of bodies pouring in. Early on, Mayor Daley, almost 15 years later, still Chicago's most contentious political figure, told the press not to "blow it out of proportion" and doubted the Chief Medical Examiner's death toll figures, saying "You can't count everything as heat related."
The history is a devastating one and, as noted, reveals social problems that are common to all American cities. Filmmaker Judith Helfand, a graduate of New York University and an award-winning documentary filmmaker, set out to frame these social injustices with her camera in hopes of initiating social change and progress. I've jumped on board this summer to help her track characters most affected by the past (and indeed the present social circumstances), and otherwise bring the heat wave story up-to-date and in terms that matter today.
The film focuses on two South Side Chicago neighborhoods, North Lawndale and Back of the Yards--two industrial areas that once thrived with commerce and community. By 1995 these areas were beyond disrepair, full of crime and a population afraid to face it on the streets. To initiate change local community leaders gathered and have ever so slowly altered (and continue to alter) the way business is conducted, thus keeping the neighborhood economy flowing.
12 years later local greening activities like community gardening and urban beekeeping are two ways neighbors can use existing spaces (most often empty lots, traditionally a communal drug trade area), and its local citizens for labor. People have a better chance for employment, poorer areas can afford locally grown organic food (rather than packaged and processed staples that have become a detriment to their health), all the while helping to combat global warming.
One of the primary causes of the '95 heat wave was a "Heat Island Effect", essentially a phenomenon caused by too much absorption of heat on paved streets and urban structures. Greening activities effectively alter the environment so there is less absorption and more circulation of heat by plants on rooftop gardens, and in all those empty lots that sprawl across the city.
In the coming months Seen will be a good source for updates on the completion and release of Heat Wave: An Unnatural Disaster. I'd also like to thank filmmaker Judy Hoffman at the University of Chicago, Producer Brei Barr at CLTV-Chicago, and independent photographer John Wright for their assistance in my research. Thanks for the hand!
For more information on director Judith Helfand, check out her website: www.judithelfand.com
Please excuse my absence recently! I was hired as a research assistant for Judith Helfand, a documentary filmmaker whose newest film Heat Wave: An Unnatural Disaster is in research and production in Chicago this summer.
The work has been time consuming for sure, and that accounts for leaving this blog to rest untouched for as long as I have, though more importantly, the work has been an eye-opening re-introduction to Chicago as I approach my one-year anniversary in this city. The film looks at the 1995 heat wave in Chicago that killed over 700 people, mostly poor, black and elderly citizens living in rough social and housing conditions that prevented them from receiving basic aid, that is, a way to cool down.I've heard from a lot of people since I began the project who lived in Chicago in July 1995, and many more who still do. I thought it proper to introduce some of the facts and history about the event to satisfy the curiosity of Chicagoans who have heard about the film, and furthermore, to bring light to the topic for a wider audience who may not know about the heat wave at all. Illuminating what happened that one week in July is more than a brief lesson in Chicago history, rather, it sheds light on the kind of social perils and inequalities that continue to haunt urban spaces still today.
The film's thesis is based on Sociologist Eric Klinenberg's book "Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago," which is widely available for interested readers. Roughly 250 pages, Klinenberg's book takes a look at a number of factors that contributed to the high death rate, including the slow response of Mayor Daley and his administration, the local media that was reluctant to cover the event as a disaster, and some very personal accounts from survivors and medical workers alike. In looking at the massive heat wave that brought temperatures as high as 106 degrees combined with a humidity factor that made it feel like it was over 120 degrees, Klinenberg was able to prove that the disaster was an abhorrent example of a severely disabled urban society and government. People too poor to afford a fan, and too afraid to leave their homes for fear of the violence outside their front doors, literally baked to death inside. Some were too afraid to even open a window. Others refused to accept air conditioning units given out of charity because they couldn't afford the electricity bill. Meanwhile, those with enough money to own and run air conditioning, in general, a population whiter and wealthier, collectively overloaded the local utility company, Commonwealth Edison's generators; for days some went without any electricity at all.
Citywide hundreds of fire hydrants were illegally opened for respite from the heat, only compounding the disaster as the city's water pressure dropped so low that some residents didn't even have running water. Mayor Daley was on vacation when the heat hit; upon his return he spawned a PR campaign that deflected responsibility, even partially, for the matter. Police cars holding decedents outside the city morgue sat 17 in line, the morgue was full, and refrigerated semi-trucks were donated to hold the hundreds of bodies pouring in. Early on, Mayor Daley, almost 15 years later, still Chicago's most contentious political figure, told the press not to "blow it out of proportion" and doubted the Chief Medical Examiner's death toll figures, saying "You can't count everything as heat related."
The history is a devastating one and, as noted, reveals social problems that are common to all American cities. Filmmaker Judith Helfand, a graduate of New York University and an award-winning documentary filmmaker, set out to frame these social injustices with her camera in hopes of initiating social change and progress. I've jumped on board this summer to help her track characters most affected by the past (and indeed the present social circumstances), and otherwise bring the heat wave story up-to-date and in terms that matter today.
The film focuses on two South Side Chicago neighborhoods, North Lawndale and Back of the Yards--two industrial areas that once thrived with commerce and community. By 1995 these areas were beyond disrepair, full of crime and a population afraid to face it on the streets. To initiate change local community leaders gathered and have ever so slowly altered (and continue to alter) the way business is conducted, thus keeping the neighborhood economy flowing.
12 years later local greening activities like community gardening and urban beekeeping are two ways neighbors can use existing spaces (most often empty lots, traditionally a communal drug trade area), and its local citizens for labor. People have a better chance for employment, poorer areas can afford locally grown organic food (rather than packaged and processed staples that have become a detriment to their health), all the while helping to combat global warming.
One of the primary causes of the '95 heat wave was a "Heat Island Effect", essentially a phenomenon caused by too much absorption of heat on paved streets and urban structures. Greening activities effectively alter the environment so there is less absorption and more circulation of heat by plants on rooftop gardens, and in all those empty lots that sprawl across the city.In the coming months Seen will be a good source for updates on the completion and release of Heat Wave: An Unnatural Disaster. I'd also like to thank filmmaker Judy Hoffman at the University of Chicago, Producer Brei Barr at CLTV-Chicago, and independent photographer John Wright for their assistance in my research. Thanks for the hand!
For more information on director Judith Helfand, check out her website: www.judithelfand.com
Sunday, July 1, 2007
House - 1986 - TV broadcast
Saturday, June 30, 2007
No, not the Fox TV show with Hugh Laurie!
House is a horror-comedy, though to be honest, it's really not quite either of those genres. It's more like a horror film that got rewritten so many times so as to inadvertently become a comedy. Though, still not a solid comedy, the script must have been passed back to the team of horror scriptwriters again, because it teeters cumbersomely between scary and funny, to finally become outright absurd.
The director is Steve Miner, who made a couple Friday the 13th movies back in the 80s, and has since kept busy directing numerous TV episodes, but also remains true to his horror roots serving as director on 1998's Halloween H20 (which I never saw) and Lake Placid in 2000 (also which I never saw).
Roger Cobb (William Katt) is a novelist and an army vet who has frightening flashbacks of the Vietnam jungles after he returns to his late aunt's house, which is apparently haunted. I believe he sees her ghost at one point, but I'm not sure because it's jumbled in my memory with images of bloated and bloody Muppet-looking creatures that live in Roger's closet. Extended mano y mano battle scenes between Man and Bloody Muppet-thing ensue for greater portions of the second act, broken up by quiet visits from his next door neighbor Harold, played by George Wendt of Cheers' "Norm!" fame.
And here's the part I remember most because it's just so strange: there's a scene in Harold's house while he's talking on the phone, and the phone is pink. Why is Norm from Cheers talking on a pink phone? It's a subtle pink, a light whitish-soft pink, you might call it baby pink, though paler. My question is, who is the set designer who decided upon this prop option? Of all the fake phones housed in a studio prop department the guy on the House sets picks pink? This makes no sense. I ask again, Why is does he have a pink phone?
This mystery and more remain unsolved by the end of House, including the surprise story where Roger's former army buddy played by Bull from Night Court (Richard Moll) comes back to haunt him as a skeleton corpse.
You've got to see this disaster to believe it.
No, not the Fox TV show with Hugh Laurie! House is a horror-comedy, though to be honest, it's really not quite either of those genres. It's more like a horror film that got rewritten so many times so as to inadvertently become a comedy. Though, still not a solid comedy, the script must have been passed back to the team of horror scriptwriters again, because it teeters cumbersomely between scary and funny, to finally become outright absurd.
The director is Steve Miner, who made a couple Friday the 13th movies back in the 80s, and has since kept busy directing numerous TV episodes, but also remains true to his horror roots serving as director on 1998's Halloween H20 (which I never saw) and Lake Placid in 2000 (also which I never saw).
Roger Cobb (William Katt) is a novelist and an army vet who has frightening flashbacks of the Vietnam jungles after he returns to his late aunt's house, which is apparently haunted. I believe he sees her ghost at one point, but I'm not sure because it's jumbled in my memory with images of bloated and bloody Muppet-looking creatures that live in Roger's closet. Extended mano y mano battle scenes between Man and Bloody Muppet-thing ensue for greater portions of the second act, broken up by quiet visits from his next door neighbor Harold, played by George Wendt of Cheers' "Norm!" fame.
And here's the part I remember most because it's just so strange: there's a scene in Harold's house while he's talking on the phone, and the phone is pink. Why is Norm from Cheers talking on a pink phone? It's a subtle pink, a light whitish-soft pink, you might call it baby pink, though paler. My question is, who is the set designer who decided upon this prop option? Of all the fake phones housed in a studio prop department the guy on the House sets picks pink? This makes no sense. I ask again, Why is does he have a pink phone?
This mystery and more remain unsolved by the end of House, including the surprise story where Roger's former army buddy played by Bull from Night Court (Richard Moll) comes back to haunt him as a skeleton corpse.
You've got to see this disaster to believe it.
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