One more reason to adore Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt aims to keep focus on Katrina recoveryBy Russell McCulley
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Calling Hurricane Katrina a "man-made disaster," actor Brad Pitt said on Tuesday he remains committed to helping the city recover from the storm. Nearly two years after the August 29, 2005 hurricane, the "Ocean's Thirteen" star said he was at times dismayed by the pace of recovery in New Orleans, where he and partner Angelina Jolie own an elegant townhouse in the historic French Quarter.
Pitt was in the Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood to tour an ecologically sustainable single-family home being built by Global Green USA, an environmental group he backs.
The actor praised the house in the Holy Cross area of the ward as a "small victory" for efforts to rebuild the city, but said, "it's hard to find an overall victory when you see how slowly everything is still moving. And Katrina was a man-made disaster. This house is a man-made solution."
Pitt said the city's flood-protection defenses must be restored before displaced residents feel confident enough to rebuild.
"We've got to push to get these levees taken care of in the correct fashion," he told reporters at a news conference in the hurricane-ravaged working class neighborhood.
The house that Pitt toured, loosely modeled on the distinctive New Orleans "shotgun" style of long, narrow homes, will generate almost all its electricity from 28 roof-mounted solar panels, said Global Green USA president Matt Petersen.
Global Green hopes to use the house, which should be completed this fall, as a prototype for the neighborhood. Built not far from the banks of the Mississippi River and raised by three feet on concrete pilings, it is above sea level.
Some in the area, which was not as badly flooded as others in the city, are rebuilding. But a lack of funds have kept most from starting fresh.
Levee repairs are ongoing and engineers differ over how the new levees will fare in a major storm.
The environmental group has pledged to create a residential community of "green" structures, including an 18-unit, low-income apartment building near the Mississippi.
Pitt, 43, said the redevelopment project could help encourage people whose homes were destroyed in the storm to return and rebuild in a more environmentally conscious fashion.
"We knew we couldn't bring back the families and friends that were lost, bring back the heirlooms, the pictures," Pitt said. "But maybe, in the process of rebuilding, we could build something smarter, and create a better way of life for those people who live here."
Labels: Brad Pitt, green building
A Rare Personality
Evidently, I am well-suited for my current job as a systems analyst/applications developer:
Does this mean I can't be an artist or a chef? It seems I'm doomed to be organizing and streamlining things for the rest of my life... which is good since I'm going to library school to become an archivist. Thank goodness, no poetry.
Labels: Personality Test
Summer Winding Down
I was looking at some of the pictures we took on Memorial Day weekend, at Kelley's Island... hard to believe school starts in less than two weeks.
We don't have time for Starbucks!
...and stop watering your crops with Gatorade, dumbasparagus!
Last night, we watched Mike Judge's
Idiocracy, which is the best prediction of humanity's future that I've ever seen or read. Five hundred years from now, man has an average IQ of about 80 (because hilbillies bred, and college-educated yuppies didn't), and spends all his time seeking mindless entertainment or nooky, or both at the same time. This move shows where the mullet, WWE, monster truck rallies, and Costco are leading us... my only criticism is that the future is much slimmer than is should be... if 70% of Americans will be obese (BMI >30) by 2010, shouldn't they all be in the "I was a one-ton man" category by 2500?
Anyway,
wow! -- powerful message, hilarious movie!
Labels: Idiocracy, IQ, movie recommendation, Starbucks
I'm an action hero!
My dd, Katie, and her friend Alex were wasting time today on
quizfarm.com; just so you know, I am 92% William Wallace... I think it has to do with the kilt. And that I'm willing to wear it...
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You scored as William Wallace, The great Scottish warrior William Wallace led his people against their English oppressors in a campaign that won independence for Scotland and immortalized him in the hearts of his countrymen. With his warrior's heart, tactician's mind, and poet's soul, Wallace was a brilliant leader. He just wanted to live a simple life on his farm, but he gave it up to help his country in its time of need.
Labels: quiz, second career, William Wallace
How Many of Me?
Did you ever wonder how many people out there in the world share your name? Yeah, neither did I... but it turns out I'm unique... the only one of me, at least according to the Census2000. Go me!
Labels: uniqueness
The Kite Runner
I realize that I'm probably the last person on the planet to read Khaled Hosseini's
The Kite Runner, but I was really, really disturbed by this book. As the Amir character observed in the text, cliche is seldom enjoyable. Bullies don't grow up to be Taliban leaders, even when they're the protagonist's childhood nemesis. Two different boys' bloody asparagii and blatantly parallel slingshot-to-the-eye scenes were too much for me. That said, I was still entralled by the description in this book. It is masterful, and showed me Afghhanistan in a way CNN has never done. The ethnic ghetto scenes were so gritty and true to what I've seen in friends' large ethnic families (the tradition; the protective, close knit community; the PhD working as a janitor; the respect shown...), and the mental workings of Amir as he buried and later dealt with his shame were incredible.
Labels: book recommendation
