http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Sat, 19 Nov 2005 15:12:05 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/11/19/151205.php Bryce Zabel The time has come... grab some popcorn... enjoy the cruise... "...a big old-fashioned rootin' tootin' adventure disaster melodrama...and it delivers what it promises."David Hinckley, New York Daily News"...a fitting tribute to the original."Alessandra Stanley, New York Times"Script adapter Bryce Zabel ("Dark Skies") doesn't miss a trick here -- nicely weaving homage to the popcorn hit original with updates to our own emotionally fractured, show-biz saturated, tech-driven era... "Diane Werts, Newsday.com"...the most incredible, awesome, phenomenal film ever made in the entire universe!"Bryce Zabel, "News! -- Views! - & Schmooze! " Blog(okay, we made this one up...)NBC, Sunday, November 20, 8:00-11:00pmBehind-the-Scenes Video39777@blogcritics.org Sat, 19 Nov 2005 15:12:05 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/10/10/234545.php Bryce ZabelViolence. We are fascinated by it, repelled by it, and we make violent movies about it that are supposedly meant to show us how terrible it really is. In the champion's corner, we have Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs and in the other corner we have our challenger, David Cronenberg's A History of Violence. "I'm just a lucky shot... really..." Straw Dogs (written by David Zelag Goodman and Sam Peckinpah) is about David, a young American mathematician (played by Dustin Hoffman) who comes to a British village with his wife, an English girl whose father owns a house there. She's going back to her roots, he's going to get a little work done, and love will be in the air. A History of Violence (written by Josh Olson, based on the graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke) looks in on another married couple in a small town. In this case, we're in Indiana and Tom (played by Viggo Mortensen) runs a pleasant little diner that everybody in town feels comfortable with. On the subject of roots, we just know he's running from his. Naturally, knowing the pedigrees of Peckinpah and Cronenberg, we also know that things won't stay peaceful long. In David's case, he runs afoul of the local Brit rowdies almost immediately in his clueless way because, after all, he's both American and an egghead. In Tom's case, his idyllic life is shattered when a couple of worthless rapist/murderers decide they want more than coffee and he is forced to kill them. There are two main problems with Straw Dogs. First, once you understand the situation it scarcely gets more complicated -- you are simply waiting for the shoes to fall. Second, its moral outrage at violence is really a sham -- it glories in it even though the degree that the violence is graphic seems tame by today's standards. A History of Violence, however, serves up its twist early and it settles nothing. Tom becomes a local hero and soon a couple of gangsters show up accusing him of being another man, a murderer they used to work with in Philadelphia. This is, as we say in the writing trade, a "good problem." There are multiple ways it could go. And, as it goes forward, there is violence, yes, but by the end of the film, you are left thinking about the whole topic in ways you hadn't imagined you would. A History of Violence. Because it makes you think during the film and long after.********** Movie Smackdown! (Two Reviews for the Price of One) pits one film now out in the theaters against a related film that's available on DVD... and declares a winner. The films can be related by theme, story, director, writer, actor -- the only rule is that there are no ties. To see the complete collection of Movie Smackdown! fights, click here. Two Reviews for the Price of One Bryce Zabel is a working screenwriter/producer whose current credits include The Poseidon Adventure and Blackbeard. He was chairman of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences from 2001-2003. He maintains two other blogs: his flagship News! -- Views! -- & Schmooze! and Instant History. Video37735@blogcritics.org Mon, 10 Oct 2005 23:45:45 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/10/04/194429.php Bryce ZabelHard to believe, but it's been ten years this week since the verdict came down in the O.J. Simpson double-murder case here in Los Angeles. As far as newsmagazine coverage of this case is concerned, it began with controversy, prompting the only pulled-back cover in Time's history, probably created more cover-stories than any other single news story short of 9/11 related coverage. O.J. Simpson Verdict: Special ReportTime - October 16, 1995Time led it's "Special Report" with an extended essay from Roger Rosenblatt that was titled, perhaps way too optimistically, "A Nation of Pained Hearts: Americans, black and white, may be able to use the O.J. verdict as a chance to embark on a pilgrimage toward and candor and charity.""At least there was one moment of visible black-and-white unity last week. It occurred on Tuesday, shortly after 10 a.m. Pacific time, when crowds of citizens, gathered together in the streets like extras in a War of the Worlds movie of the 1950s, stood staring up at outdoor television screens, waiting for the word. They were united, briefly, in an anxious silence of the heart. As soon as the verdict was read, however, they split apart; they could watch themselves do it on the split screens. On one side jubilation, on the other dismay. Afterward it was said that America should have seen it coming, that the division of the races cut so deep, it ought to have been obvious that two nations had always been hiding in one."Like JFK's death, the moon landing and 9/11, many of us have a memory of how we heard the news and what it meant. I was in pre-production on the pilot for what would become an NBC TV series, Dark Skies, and we had offices at the Lantana offices in Santa Monica. When the word went out that they were about to read the verdict, people pored out of their offices into the building lobby where there was a big-screen television. I'm talking something like fifty people, probably a dozen of them African-American. When the words "not guilty" were read, I think everybody in the room was shocked and surprised. Without exception every white person recoiled and, simultaneously, every single African-American began to applaud and cheer. Keep in mind that we were all co-workers and that everybody was well-educated and employed. The difference between everybody in the room was race and nothing else.The actual coverage began after the essay, and showed us that famous photo of O.J. with the very strange smile on his face being hugged by Johnnie Cochran as Kardashian and Bailey, his other white attorneys, continued to listen to the verdict."A mug shot, two gravestones, a smile. The trial can be reduced to these emblems. Or to entries in a specialized gazetteer: Rockingham, Bundy, Brentwood. A bestiary: barking dog, white Bronco, blond Kato. Names on a list: Marcia and Johnnie, Darden and Shapiro, Fung, Lee, Scheck, Ito, Fuhrman. A weird alphabet: DNA, O.J., A.C., LAPD, the N word. All were signposts to a greater geography, one uneasily contained on the premises of the California Superior Court. Television viewers saw the proceedings and were captured by the legal dramatics; and yet there were always hints of unseen details and untold tales."One of the things I found most interesting in this coverage is how the defense felt about Judge Lance Ito. Apparently, they disliked him about as much as the prosecution did."Says defense attorney Peter Neufeld: 'I was very disappointed with Judge Ito, the fact that he was so concerned with his status as a celebrity, his willingness to entertain personalities in chambers, to show the lawyers little videotapes of skits on television.' One day, says Neufeld, Ito brought all the lawyers into chambers to show them a clip of the 'Dancing Itos' from Jay Leno's Tonight Show. 'You may find that amusing on a personal level, but I can assure that on a professional level it is so unacceptable, for a judge who is presiding over a murder where two people lost their lives in the most gruesome and horrible fashion, and where a third person has his life on the line, to bring the lawyers into chambers to show them comic revues.' Ito even told the lawyers Simpson jokes he had heard. Says Neufeld: 'As someone who has tried cases for twenty years, I found it deplorable and I was shocked.'"O.J., by the way, is supposed to be out in Los Angeles any day now signing autographs for money. Are the buyers looking to own a souvenir from a sports hero or the murderer who got away? Maybe that depends on race, too. It's sad if it does because no race should have to bear the burden of defending a murderer. But that's America these days.O.J., of course, has had ten years to continue searching for "the real killer" as he so famously promised and, so far, has not turned anyone up. Maybe his break with reality has been so complete that he doesn't realize he's looking right at him every day he shaves.********** Instant History is all about the "first draft" of history. For over seven decades, both Time and Newsweek have provided a weekly snapshot of our lives -- sometimes profoundly insightful and other times woefully inadequate but, in all cases, before conventional wisdom has time to set in. Like today's blogs... Bryce Zabel is a working screenwriter/producer whose current credits include The Poseidon Adventure and Blackbeard. He was chairman of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences from 2001-2003. He maintains two other blogs: his flagship News! -- Views! -- & Schmooze! and Movies-Squared. Sports37411@blogcritics.org Tue, 4 Oct 2005 19:44:29 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/10/04/120450.php Bryce ZabelEven though there are legions of Star Wars fans out there who will say that their film can't be compared to anything that's just not true of Serenity. It exists in exactly the same film universe of the film that broke it all open 28 years ago. "Both of these evil empires drive me up the wall..."Think about it. In both films, you have a crew that plays basically on the fringes of society in their space universe. And, in both cases, there is a governmental power that is corrupt that the lead characters are in rebellion against. And, in both, there is a captain of the ship -- "Mal" Reynolds in Serenity and Han Solo in Star Wars -- who both pretend to be apolitical but can be counted on to stand up for what's right when the chips are down.Star Wars, back in 1977, was completely, wonderfully unique. That has to be remembered even though, for me, the magic has long since gone and I've grown a little tired of the franchise. SerenityStar Wars being a neighbor and the TV show, Firefly, on which it is a feature-length extension. is the new kid on the block, yes, but even that block is based on Laying down all my cards here, I have to say I enjoyed Serenity a whole lot more than the last version of Star Wars (which was the sixth film but the third in the series which still sounds confusing). Mal seems like a more reasonable captain and when the bad guy asks him if he is prepared to die and he answers, "I am", there's no false bravado, he's just stating a fact. All the characters in Serenity work better for me. I like they way they're written, the way they're acted and the world they inhabit. And yet...Star Wars. Because it blew me away when it first came out and it made the world safe for Serenity to be made. No matter where the franchise went, it remains the undisputed heavyweight champion of the universe.**********Movies-Squared (Two Reviews for the Price of One!) reviews one film out in the theaters today by comparing it to a related film out on DVD -- and declares a winner. The connection might be subject matter, director, actor, whatever...Bryce Zabel is a working screenwriter/producer whose current credits include The Poseidon Adventure and Blackbeard. He was chairman of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences from 2001-2003. He maintains two other blogs: his flagship News! -- Views! -- & Schmooze! and Instant History. Video37312@blogcritics.org Tue, 4 Oct 2005 12:04:50 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/10/03/170001.php Bryce ZabelWith the nation divided into red and blue states, and both sides peering out from their political bunkers at the spectacle of more power lobbying and a potential filibuster over Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, it's worth a look back at the moment when Sandra Day O'Connor joined the high court. She, too, was appointed by a very conservative President Ronald Reagan, but she sailed through -- because times were different, because Reagan wasn't Bush and because, honestly, everybody wanted to see a woman on the Supreme Court. Democrats now have to decide: do they want a woman on the court more than they hate Bush? Others can dissect the Miers nomination but if the Democrats decide they can't stop this one, we may get a re-run from 1981. Here's a look back to the moment when the first woman was about to crash the party that first Monday in October. Justice -- At LastJuly 20, 1981In an article entitled "The Brethren's First Sister", Time gave a rave review to O'Connor and even to Reagan for selecting her, calling her a "Supreme Court nominee and a triumph for common sense."Ronald Reagan lived up to a campaign pledge last week, and the nation cheered. At a hastily arranged television appearance in the White House press room, the President referred to his promise as a candidate that he would name a woman to the Supreme Court, explaining: "That is not to say I would appoint a woman merely to do so. That would not be fair to women, nor to future generations of all Americans whose lives are so deeply affected by decisions of the court. Rather, I pledged to appoint a woman who meets the very high standards I demand of all court appointees."It's interesting to note that Reagan received high marks from his political opponents and the middle, but also faced, like Bush, some thunder from the right.After naming O'Connor, the President suddenly found himself awash in praise from a wide range of political liberals, moderates and old-guard conservatives. At the same time, he was under harsh assault from the moral-issue zealots in the New Right who helped him reach the Oval Office. Although they had little chance of blocking the nomination, they charged that O'Connor was a closet supporter of the ERA and favored abortion.Even Tip O'Neill said that the nomination was "the best thing he's done (Reagan) since he was inaugurated." I'm trying to use my imagination here and see if I can conjure an image of any Democrat praising any nominee that Bush puts forward. I guess that Harry Reid has done that now, but I can't see Nancy Pelosi saying words like her predecessor. She may, however, be equally powerless to stop this nomination.Still, if you're looking to understand why everybody's so fired up about Bush's new nominee, just look at that date on the issue. July, 1981 -- 24 years ago. These things don't come around that often and they do matter. What was so shocking and ground-breaking then has changed to the point that Bush probably felt compelled to fill the vacacancy with a woman. Actions do have consequences.********** Instant History is all about the "first draft" of history. For over seven decades, both Time and Newsweek have provided a weekly snapshot of our lives -- sometimes profoundly insightful and other times woefully inadequate but, in all cases, before conventional wisdom has time to set in. Like today's blogs... Bryce Zabel is a working screenwriter/producer whose current credits include The Poseidon Adventure and Blackbeard. He was chairman of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences from 2001-2003. He maintains two other blogs: his flagship News! -- Views! -- & Schmooze! and Movies-Squared. Politics37326@blogcritics.org Mon, 3 Oct 2005 17:00:01 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/10/03/124146.php Bryce ZabelWe're coming up on two significant dates in the life (and death) of John Lennon. On October 9, Lennon would have been 65 years old had he not been gunned down 25 years ago on December 8, 1980. Both Time and Newsweek gave over their covers to Lennon's passing. I've chosen Newsweek to focus on because it has that haunting portrait by Richard Avedon. Also, I had previewed the first Newsweek cover to feature the Beatles back in 1964 in an earlier post, and it's interesting to compare how the coverage changed in those intervening years. John Lennon 1940-1980December 22, 1980Newsweek devoted twelve entire pages to the death of John Lennon in a special "pull-out" coverage. It contained a handful of separate articles entitled: "Death of a Beatle" which was the news coverage, "Lennon's Alter-Ego" about assassin Mark David Chapman, "Strawberry Fields Forever" about the influence of the Beatles, and "An Ex-Beatle 'Starting Over'" about Lennon's new emergence on the public scene after nearly five years of absence."Come together, he had once asked them in a song, and now they came, tens of thousands of them, to share their grief and shock at the news. John Lennon, once the cheeky wit and sardonic soul of the Beatles, whose music had touched a generation and enchanted the world, had been slain on his doorstep by a confused, suicidal young man who had apparently idolized him. Along New York's Central Park West and West 72nd Street, in front of the building where Lennon had lived and died, they stood for hours in tearful vigil, looking to each other and his music for comfort."But, of course, there was no comfort because no matter how many times we sang "Imagine" that week, nothing would bring him back. I remember hearing the news myself -- at the time I was a CNN correspondent in Los Angeles (we had just gone on the air) and I was at home and saw it on the TV. I immediately called my brother and told him and he seemed to react like, "So why are you calling me?" About a half hour later he called back and said he didn't know what he was thinking -- he was devastated like the rest of us. Looking back, I think his delayed reaction came from the sheer out-of-left-field unthinkablility of the news. Nobody saw this coming.The magazine called Lennon the "unofficial" leader of the Beatles, cited his "numinous influence" on pop culture and noted: "the killing stunned the nation -- and much of the world -- as nothing had since the political assassinations of the 1960s.""Lennon, semiconscious and bleeding profusely, was placed in the back seat of Officer James Moran's patrol car. 'Do you know who you are?' Moran asked him. Lennon couldn't speak. 'He moaned and nodded his head as if to say yes,' Moran said... Though doctors pronounced Lennon dead on arrival at Roosevelt (Hospital), a team of seven surgeons labored desperately to revive him. But his wounds were too severe. There were three holes in his chest, two in his back and two in his left shoulder. 'It wasn't possible to resuscitate him by any means,' said Dr. Stephen Lynn, the hospital's director of emergency services. 'He'd lost 3 to 4 quarts of blood from the gun wounds, about 80 percent of his blood volume." After working on Lennon for about half an hour, the surgeons gave up, and went to break the news to Yoko."Newsweek gave Lennon and the Beatles a great deal more credit for their music than they had 16 years earlier. "These are great songs. If they are pop, then clearly pop is capable of greatness in expressing the pathos of mass society." Lest we give them too much credit, however, for "getting it", that same article concludes talking about the song "Happiness Is a Warm Gun", never mentioning (or knowing) that the "gun" was not a firearm, but a hypodermic needle.Lennon never gave up his passion for social justice. On the day he was shot, John and Yoko had decided on a trip to San Francisco for the following week to walk with Asian workers who were demonstrating for wage equality. Let's close with Yoko Ono's own words:"Some people are saying this is the end of an era. But what we said before still stands -- the 80s will be a beautiful decade. John loved and prayed for the human race. Please tell people to pray the same for him. Please remember that he had deep faith and love for life and that, though he has now joined the greater force, he is still with us."Happy 65th birthday, John. We still miss you.********** Instant History is all about the "first draft" of history. For over seven decades, both Time and Newsweek have provided a weekly snapshot of our lives -- sometimes profoundly insightful and other times woefully inadequate but, in all cases, before conventional wisdom has time to set in. Like today's blogs... Bryce Zabel is a working screenwriter/producer whose current credits include The Poseidon Adventure and Blackbeard. He was chairman of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences from 2001-2003. He maintains two other blogs: his flagship News! -- Views! -- & Schmooze! and Movies-Squared. Music37314@blogcritics.org Mon, 3 Oct 2005 12:41:46 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/10/03/121721.php Bryce ZabelJodie Foster definitely has the protective mother thing down. In Flightplan, she has her child taken from her, defying all logic, while on a transatlantic flight. In Panic Room, she has the child with her, and bad guys literally outside her door. In both cases, she has guts and brains on her side and not much else. They're both exceptional thrillers. "Fasten your own damn seatbelt..."Each film asks parents to put themselves in her place: how much would you risk to protect your child from evil? In both cases the answer is the same: everything. Rooting value is a wash between these films. We are on Jodie's side every step of the way.Both films use the same plot twist but in different ways. In Flightplan, Foster plays Kyle Pratt, a jet propulsion engineer who has been employed in Germany working on the very jet that she's now flying. In other words, she knows this plane inside and out. In Panic Room, it's Forest Whitaker playing Burnham -- the bad guy -- who has spent a decade of his life designing rooms like this "to keep out people like us." In the former, this inside knowledge gives Foster's character her only hope and in the latter, this inside knowledge is what makes her plight all the more desperate.What's good about both these films is that the plots, while not exactly airtight, are definitely not dumb, either. There is a clear internal logic in both of them that is coherent enough to keep you grabbed during the movie even if, on the way home, you have a few questions you're not sure you like or understand the answers to.Because of their thematic similarities, I couldn't help think that Jodie Foster was cast in Flightplan specifically because she played that character so well in Panic Room. I also thought how sad it is that Hollywood didn't let Foster carry a different, wholly original film on her shoulders the next time out -- after all she's one of the best actresses working today. But that's Hollywood. These films cost so much to make that the studios generally go for any tested advantage.Panic Room. Because even though the competition here is excellent, this film was original (or at least more original) when we first saw it and, thus, surprised our expectations even more.**********Movies-Squared (Two Reviews for the Price of One!) reviews one film out in the theaters today by comparing it to a related film out on DVD -- and declares a winner. The connection might be subject matter, director, actor, whatever...Bryce Zabel is a working screenwriter/producer whose current credits include The Poseidon Adventure and Blackbeard. He was chairman of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences from 2001-2003. He maintains two other blogs: his flagship News! -- Views! -- & Schmooze! and Instant History. Video37311@blogcritics.org Mon, 3 Oct 2005 12:17:21 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/10/03/111301.php Bryce ZabelWe were sound asleep when the bullhorn from a police cruiser circling our cul-de-sac woke us up last Thursday morning at 2:30am. "This is a mandatory evacuation. Please leave your homes now." You just can't imagine how that makes you feel coming out of a deep sleep. In no way do I mean to imply any parity to the experience of the Katrina victims, especially since in the aftermath here things have turned out even better than expected. The point is simply that talking about disaster experiences like this can only help people in the future consider their own options. Welcome to My NeighborhoodPhoto Courtesy of LA TimesWe live in the current fire zone, but we did not think our particular area was in danger. The fires were miles away, firefighters were streaming into town and it looked like our entire area would have to burn down before we'd be in danger. Or so we thought. So we had no bags packed and had given no thought to what we would need if we were asked to leave. It was chaotic. Mere minutes to decide what you need -- in the short term, like a change of clothes -- and in the long term -- items selected from a lifetime of accumulation.We took the dogs, a suitcase of photo albums, the computer with all my files, passports, some cash, all our insurance and other documents, a few extra things to wear and, in my case, the notebook I needed for my pitch the next day at the Sci-Fi Channel. This was, admittedly, an odd last-second grab but it speaks to the human need to want to carry on. This is what I do so I stuffed the notebook in the bag and jumped in the car.We tried not to take anything we could buy again, although the lines fuzzed in our running about the house. In the end, we couldn't find a flashlight, but we did take a box of Pop-Tarts. Ironically, Pop-Tarts have a special place in our family -- after the '94 Northridge Earthquake, our kids munched them in our van, watching Disney movies with the neighbors and it kept them calm.We didn't know whether we should head north or south until, on our way out of the neighborhood, a cop told us to head south. On the way, my phone died because I hadn't left it on charge (note to self!) and my son had forgotten to take his. This was a problem considering my wife and daughter were in the other car. Eventually, we rendevouzed with friends in a parking lot next to a McDonald's at 3am and compared notes.We ended up the first night at the home of the parents of friends, then found a hotel room the next day. We watched the local TV news and every location was one we knew well. Our home never seemed to be imminently in danger so it seemed odd that we were evacuated like we were while we watched others, with flames in their backyards, saying they weren't leaving until the firefighters told them to go. Despite planning efforts, I suspect that disasters have a built-in degree of randomness, something we should remember as we sort out Katrina and point fingers at everybody. It's a disaster, after all.Anyway, we're back home now, having returned less than 48 hours later. The smoke was everywhere. Ash was all over the place. Fire equipment as as common as cars on the streets. But our home stands.These firefighters truly are heroic figures. My car's outdoor thermometer said it was 104 degrees the day we escaped. I was ready to fall over walking to a restaurant for lunch. We owe these men and women plenty. One guy I know bought 250 cheeseburgers for the firefighters. We bought some donuts. Nothing can properly express how much we owe them. Still, thank you all, thank you very much..There's talk the Santa Ana winds may be kicking up again. I'll never be ready to evacuate but at least now I know where the flashlight is.**********News! -- Views! -- & Schmooze! (Dispatches, POVs and Idle Chat from Hollywood's Front Lines) is the flagship blog of Bryce Zabel -- covering TV, film, culture, writing and politics. Bryce is a working screenwriter/producer whose current credits include The Poseidon Adventure and Blackbeard. He was the chairman of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences from 2001-2003. He maintains two other blogs: Instant History and Movies-Squared. Culture37310@blogcritics.org Mon, 3 Oct 2005 11:13:01 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/10/02/123436.php Bryce ZabelWe were sound asleep when the bullhorn from a police cruiser circling our cul-de-sac woke us up. "This is a mandatory evacuation. Please leave your homes now." You just can't imagine how that makes you feel coming out of a deep sleep. In no way do I mean to imply any parity to the experience of the Katrina victims, especially since in the aftermath here things have turned out even better than expected. The point is simply that talking about disaster experiences like this can only help people in the future consider their own options. Welcome to My NeighborhoodPhoto Courtesy of LA TimesWe live in the current fire zone, but we did not think our particular area was in danger. We had no bags packed and had given no thought to what we would need if we were asked to leave. It was chaotic. Mere minutes to decide what you need -- in the short term, like a change of clothes -- and in the long term -- items selected from a lifetime of accumulation.We took the dogs, a suitcase of photo albums, the computer with all my files, passports, some cash, all our insurance and other documents, a few clothes and, in my case, the notebook I needed for my pitch the next day at the Sci-Fi Channel. This was, admittedly, an odd last-second grab but it speaks to the human need to want to carry on. This is what I do so I stuffed the notebook in the bag and jumped in the car.We didn't take anything we could buy again, including clothes. We couldn't find a flashlight, but we did take a box of Pop-Tarts. Ironically, Pop-Tarts have a special place in our family -- after the '94 Northridge Earthquake, our kids munched them in our van, watching Disney movies with the neighbors and it kept them calm.We didn't know whether we should head north or south until, on our way out of the neighborhood, a cop told us to head south. On the way, my phone died because I hadn't left it on charge (note to self!) and my son had forgotten to take his which was a problem considering my wife and daughter were in the other car. Eventually, we rendevouzed with friends in a parking lot next to a McDonald's at 3am and compared notes.We ended up the first night at the home of the parents of friends, then found a hotel room the next day. We watched the local TV news and every location was one we knew well. Our home never seemed to be imminently in danger so it seemed odd that we were evacuated like we were while we watched others, with flames in their backyards, saying they weren't leaving until the firefighters told them to go. Despite planning efforts, I suspect that disasters have a built-in degree of randomness, something we should remember as we sort out Katrina and point fingers at everybody. It's a disaster, after all.Anyway, we're back home now. The smoke is everywhere. Ash is all over the place. Fire equipment is as common as cars on the streets. But our home stands.These firefighters truly are heroic figures. My car's outdoor thermometer said it was 104 degrees yesterday. I was ready to fall over walking to a restaurant for lunch. We owe these men and women plenty. One guy I know bought 250 cheeseburgers for the firefighters. We bought some donuts. Nothing can properly express how much we owe them. Still, thank you all, thank you very much..**********News! -- Views! -- & Schmooze! (Dispatches, POVs and Idle Chat from Hollywood's Front Lines) is the flagship blog of Bryce Zabel -- covering TV, film, culture, writing and politics. Bryce is a working screenwriter/producer whose current credits include The Poseidon Adventure and Blackbeard. He was the chairman of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences from 2001-2003. He maintains two other blogs: Instant History and Movies-Squared. Culture37253@blogcritics.org Sun, 2 Oct 2005 12:34:36 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/09/04/140315.php Bryce ZabelNew Orleans has always had a complicated relationship with the water surrounding it. Everyone told the first settlers it was the wrong place to build a city. And Time&#8212in a July 2000 cover article about "Life on the Mississippi"&#8212pretty much nailed what was going to happen in New Orleans. The inside article was called "The Big Easy on the Brink" and sub-titled, presciently, "If it doesn't act fast, the city could become the next Atlantis."The article gets right to the point and gets that point right-on. It opens like this: If a flood of biblical proportions were to lay waste to New Orleans, Joe Suhayda has a good idea how it could happen. A Category 5 hurricane would come barreling out of the Gulf of Mexico. It would cause Lake Pontchartrain, north of New Orleans, to overflow, pouring down millions of gallons of water into the city. Then things would really get ugly. Evacuation routes would be blocked. Buildings would collapse. Chemicals and hazardous waste would dissolve, turning the floodwaters into a lethal soup. In the end, what was left of the city might not be worth saving. 'There's concern it would essentially destroy New Orleans,' says Suhayda. The man quoted&#8212Suhayda&#8212a water-resources expert at Louisiana State University, had concluded that New Orleans might not even exist as a city by the end of the century. His prediction, in light of recent events, even raises questions about whether or not the city should be re-built (although for political reasons it almost certainly will). Remember, this is a city that, in the old days, after a heavy rain, bodies actually washed out of the cemeteries. The article makes the point that what is threatening New Orleans is a combination of two man-made problems: more levees and fewer wetlands.The levees installed along the Mississippi to protect the city from water surges have had a perverse effect: they have actually made it more vulnerable to flooding. That's because New Orleans has been kept in place by the precarious balance of two opposing forces. Because the city is constructed on 100 feet of soft silt, sand and clay, it naturally "subsides" or sinks, several feet a century. Historically, that subsidence has been counteracted by sedimentation: new silts, sand and clay that are deposited when the river floods. But since the levees went up&#8212mostly after the great flood of 1927&#8212the river has not been flooding, and sedimentation has stopped.You've read the upshot. The city has been and continues sink about three feet a century, bad news for a city already eight feet below sea level. Factor in global warming that may be raising the sea as much as three feet a century. Then there was the wetlands issues. The Louisiana coast, according to Time, was losing 16,000 acres a year, mostly as a result of population expansion into once pristine areas, destructive oil and gas drilling, pollution and land loss through lack of sedimentation. As it turns out, barrier islands aren't just nice to look at; they are also a key natural barrier to hurricanes. (Every 2.7 miles of wetland absorbs a foot of storm surge.) As the wetlands go, the chance of a hurricane blowing the city away grows. The article makes clear that engineers were frantically trying to come up with solutions, but that the big sticking point was money. The price tag for a complete solution would have been as much as $14-billion in federal and state money. (Of course, if we re-build, that may look like a bargain.) Here is the article's conclusion: So far, little has been done. Part of the problem, of course, is that excessive worrying and planning are radically at odds with the spirit of the Big Easy... New Orleans is still a place where the primary meaning of hurricane is a fruity rum drink the law lets you carry openly as you carouse in the French Quarter. Not anymore. You can read Adam Cohen's entire article by clicking here. Instant History is all about the "first draft" of history. For over seven decades, both Time and Newsweek have provided a weekly snapshot of our lives -- sometimes profoundly insightful and other times woefully inadequate but, in all cases, before conventional wisdom has time to set in. Like today's blogs... Bryce Zabel is a working screenwriter/producer whose current credits include The Poseidon Adventure and Blackbeard. He was chairman of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences from 2001-2003. He maintains two other blogs: his flagship News! -- Views! -- & Schmooze! and Movies-Squared. Edited: PC Books35468@blogcritics.org Sun, 4 Sep 2005 14:03:15 EDT