Tuesday, September 06, 2005

A remembrance of Bob Denver, who got off that island only to die in Winston-Salem. "Did Gilligan even want to be rescued? Maybe he was alone among the castaways in appreciating the Rousseauistic perfection of their island life, with its unlimited supply of coconuts, the endless inventions of the Professor, and the virgin/whore dialectics of female beauty represented by Ginger and Mary Ann." He also had the daring homoerotic subtext working with the Skipper, and his exploration of class tension with the Howells presaged the '60s anti-establishment vibe. Maynard G. Krebs was cool, too. (Yes, I know the article confuses Dawn Wells and Tina Louise. There is no comparison, of course, and all you Ginger-lovers are sad freaks, as even Mr. Sun understands.) UPDATE: The Slate article by Dana Stevens is now corrected, but with no comment. I think that's pretty weak. It was a big error (relative to the subject matter) -- Stevens said Wells played Ginger, and related an anecdote in which the actress who played Ginger sold pot to Denver years after they got off the island...Isn't it best-practice to note that kind of gaffe when you fix it, and isn't that one of the ways the web is supposed to be better than print? 10:14:54 PM   permalink   comment []

I've noted before that dogs always know to throw up on the nicest rug in the house. But there are no nice rugs in my office, so what's a clever girl like Luna to do? Improvise. Today, she threw up on my foot. I love that dog. 9:49:43 PM   permalink   comment []

FEMA in command: "'They've got people here who are search-and-rescue certified, paramedics, haz-mat certified,' said a Texas firefighter. 'We're sitting in here having a sexual-harassment class while there are still [victims] in Louisiana who haven't been contacted yet.'" (via Josh Marshall). 8:04:46 PM   permalink   comment []

Doc points to this article by Andrew Sullivan. Sullivan: "There seems to me a strong chance that this calamity could be the beginning of something profound in American politics: a sense that government is broken and that someone needs to fix it." Doc: "The shift from War on Terror to War on Error will be a literally democratic one. It will be a practical revolution -- one of, by and for The People." I am grateful for their optimism. 2:38:24 PM   permalink   comment []

Suddenly we're past Labor Day and the blogging and journalism conferences at A&T are just weeks away. Things are coming together really well. If you haven't registered, you might want to get on it... 2:29:38 PM   permalink   comment []

Eric Muller wants to know more about disaster-simulation exercises conducted by the Department of Homeland Security in New Orleans, so he's filed a FOIA request to the Feds. 2:17:23 PM   permalink   comment []

Hundreds of people displaced by Katrina may be headed for GSO. Here's how you can help. 11:48:41 AM   permalink   comment []

Meanwhile, back in Iraq..."Fighters loyal to militant leader Abu Musab Zarqawi asserted control over the key Iraqi border town of Qaim on Monday, killing U.S. collaborators and enforcing strict Islamic law." No doubt the fault of New Orleans officials. 8:25:40 AM   permalink   comment []

Brad DeLong: "New Orleans did not have a functioning government as of the summer of 2005. This is a catastrophic failure of local governance--much worse than FEMA's failures. "You would think that somebody -- somewhere -- would have called Washington and said, 'You know, New Orleans doesn't have its act together enough to have a hurricane evacuation plan.' And that somebody, somewhere -- in Washington or in Baton Rouge -- would have cared." 7:41:08 AM   permalink   comment []