Holiday Couch Potato Viewing Guide (Continued)
A TV Free pod playing this afternoon featured a couple driving around the desert in a human skull-shaped vehicle. "It’s a pain in the ass to build," said one of the duo, a woman named Renee, "but rad to drive in."
In other video pod, about a dozen celebrants asked themselves, "what’s going to happen at the end of the oil economy?" Their visionary answer to the Burning Man question (this year’s theme is green): they built "Crude Awakening," a 90-foot tall oil derrick. Cameras roll as giant cranes painstakingly erect the structure in high winds. The project is a collaborative, volunteer effort that required 23,000 hours of total labor.
At the moment, Current is also remembering the New Orleans tragedy through a series of pods shot by Doug Kiesling, a "weather paparazzi" who travels the U.S. in search of wild weather footoage. He flew to New Orleans on behalf of The Weather Channel and his "Escape from New Orleans" pod is heartstopping.
I can’t tell you exactly when the Katrina "mega-pod" (a collection of six or so pods) is actually set to air again. (I watched it last night.) But the pods can be viewed online here.
Unfortunately, America’s worst natural disaster has receded from the American consciousness. Almost 800,000 people were displaced, many permanently driven from their homes and livelihoods. Kiesling’s footage jumped me back in time to that terrible weekend as I watched the tragedy unfold in slow motion on Fox News and CNN.
This Saturday and Sunday at 8p.m ET., CNN airs Children of the Storm. Spike Lee and CNN special correspondent Soledad O’Brien gave 11 New Orleans students cameras and asked them to documents their lives in the wake of Katrina. CNN touches base with four of them.
On a personal note: to some degree, some of the same conditions that led to the New Orleans tragedy are taking shape right here in Marin County. (It’s pretty shocking. On a quiet news weekend, I might just out the story on this blog.)
I hope everyone watches Katrina cable coverage and takes to heart a very, very serious lesson. New Orleans can happen to you. We are all New Orleans.
mary mcnamara commented:
Hi Dan - that wasn't hyperbole. It can happen to you, if not a flood then something else just as bad. The lack of awareness and preparedness for natural disasters in the U.S. has a long way to go. I just sat in a lecture by the author of "No Adverse Impacts," a study commissioned by the Assocation of State Flood Plain Managers. well, just...yikes. and the magnitude of Katrina is pretty much unimaginable until you look at the associated graphics and compare it to other natural disasters. and the magnitute and scope of natural disasters is mounting. Remember when we thought Hurricane Andrew was bad? first hand, it looks like southern coast was hit by a nuclear blast, according to (fairly) recently returned friends who said they were kind of stunned, that news footage couldn't really capture it. there are potentials you'd never expect - whether floods, tornadoes and windstorms in the midwest, hurricanes in NYC, or earthquakes in areas like the Carolinas or the St. Louis area. Where I was raised (150 miles north of St. Louis) earthquakes are the farthest thing from everyone's mind. and yet, I can recall shakers as a child. and many buildings are unreinforced brick. but I really don't think it's the ordinary citizen's fault. Here in Marin - I won't saddle you w/ too much detail - but the County is actively trying to keep information out of the public record. I actually sat in a small meeting two weeks ago when County staff informed my local flood board - a duly appointed citizen group - that board members were not allowed to discuss many critical matters related to flooding. They claimed the decision came from County Counsel, based on a wacky interpretation of state law. (other jaw dropping stuff went on but it's too much to detail here) Parsing motive would be speculative but I imagine this is an effort to minimize County legal liability should a problem occur. Anyway - my comment was not hyperbole. It's a wake-up call.
Dan commented:
No. New Orleans cannot happen to me, nor the vast majority of us. Hyperbole only serves to obscure and numb. Enough.