Crescent City Blues and BBQ Festival 2011

Fun fun day! Great music, food, and atmosphere!

Mamou Playboys at the Gretna Heritage Fest

Here's some video I took at the Gretna Heritage Festival 2011. Awesome, awesome day. Love zydeco too. Sorry about the sound. I was right next to the speakers. 

Colbert Rocks

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Sign Off - Last Heroe$ Crawl
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

I'm a Hero on The Colbert Report! Well, because I gave him a little cash..... If you look very closely and don't blink you can see my name. Or see it in the still below from a previous episode (pic didn't enlarge well). Woot!

Tick Tock Goes The Clock...

Here are 2 preview clips from tomorrow night's epic Doctor Who season finale.... Glad Maldavar is ok. Well. His head is anyway.

Drunk People and Big Big Trucks

The last real parade of Mardi Gras season. This is a very difficult parade to watch when you really have to pee. Hundreds of gigantic trucks rolling by... drivers laying on their horns.

Still one of my faves tho.

The Cure rocks! Of course that's their job.

 Cure - Never Enough

One of my favorite songs and videos. Musically, The Cure is my Doctor Who. Imaginative and exciting.  Weird that I find this vid on Spike.com.

The Mute Button

Stupid, stupid, stupid commercials. We don't need bad sitcom quality ads right smack in the middle of bad sitcoms. Stop assuming every viewer is a moron. Talk about your product then shut the hell up. Geez.

People of the world! Your remote may not have a FF option for live TV.... It does, however, have a mute button.

The 9-11 Attacks: 10 Years Later

On the 10th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks, I thought I'd post some of my pics from a 2002 visit to NYC. Barely over a year later, this is what Ground Zero looked like.  I apologize for the quality of the photos. The top pic is a memorial just at the edge of the site. I remember what I wrote on the wall very vividly. "With great tragedy comes an even greater resolve."

Our thoughts are with all the families who suffered great loss on that day.

Go NFL!

Because prosport is all-important. Sorry. Saw a story about Michael Vick a little while ago. He's a thug and it reminded me of how trivial these sports are. I will NOT be following any professional team this year.

Katrina: 6 Years Later

On the 6th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina I reflect and look back over some of the images I captured during my time as a medical volunteer. Some pictures may seem a bit light-hearted, but I assure you, we took it very seriously.

Mardi Gras 2011! Proteus Parade

Ever wonder what it would be like in the front row of a Mardi Gras parade crowd in New Orleans? Here we are closer to the parade starting point on St. Charles Ave. Not as many drunk college students.... Makes it MUCH easier to enjoy.

It also helps to live only a few blocks from where most of the parades run. Hint: Get there a few hours early.

June-cation! 2011

Here's some footage from the June vacation Sarah and I took....... in June. There's a sad little zoo in north Georgia, a happy family reunion in central Alabama, and an awesome housewarming in Auburn.

Who Sold Out Torchwood?

First of all, let's get a few things straight. Torchwood is a spin-off of Doctor Who. In the "Who" mythos, Queen Victoria not only founded the Torchwood Institute to fend off alien threats, but also to keep The Doctor out of Britain. Captain Jack Harkness rose through the ranks and eventually became Torchwood itself. Most of us already know that if you rearrange the letters, "Torchwood" spells "Doctor Who".

As we all know, the show has been bought and "Americanized" by the Starz cable network. While this is a travesty, we have to look deeper into the grand picture. It has been admitted that the show would have carried on in the UK had it not have been picked up in the US. What does this mean?

As much as I love Russell T. Davies for successfully reviving my favorite TV show ever (and I mean EVER), I have to fault him for the downfall of Torchwood. It is by no means what it used to be. I understand that a show has to evolve to survive. In "Miracle Day", however, I see less evolution and more catering to Hollywood culture. In my humble opinion, this show will not survive in an American market.

Blame who you will.... an American cable channel or Americans themselves... The harsh reality is that Davies himself sold the show out. What does he stand to gain? A more solid footing in US TV. It pays a LOT more. It also paves the way for American film. That jackass Moffat already has his heels dug firmly into that.

I don't like Steven Moffat.

To finish, I love Davies and what he did with WHO. Absolutely LOVE it. I also understand that what he does is business. I will not fault the man for doing his job. I WILL fault him for sacrificing his roots and his art to further his career, tho.

Torchwood is now something that I catch when I can. Truly sad.

New Doctor Who Trailer from BBC One

Here's a new trailer. Series 6 Pt. 2 starts Aug. 27th on BBC One and BBC America.

Cafe du Monde in a Minute and a Half (Almost)

I love being a New Orleanian. It's awesome being able to drive just a couple of miles down the road and being in the middle of this! I was sitting in Jackson Square a few months ago (collecting info for Sarah's visiting team members) and heard this band playing.

A Return to The AC

I recently read a post by a friend in San Francisco that dealt with our hometown. I like to call the place "The AC"... better known by its formal title "Alexander City". With this on my mind throughout the day, I became inspired to write a little bit about the place in which I was raised.

There are lots of great things about Alexander City, AL. Its proximity to Auburn, for instance. Its proximity to areas of outdoor interest (as long as you're wearing some orange while hiking, you should be ok)...... Its proximity to Atlanta. The best thing about The AC, however, is the people. Not all people. Not even by a long shot. Some of my best friends and loved ones live there, though. That's why I keep going back. If I didn't know anyone there, June 1998 would have been the last time I'd ever have seen the place.

Imagine being on a road trip. Road trips are fun. Alex City is one of those towns you drive through on the highway. There are some gas stations, a few fast food drive-thru places, a couple of hotels. Basically somewhere you might stop for gas or stay the night. A fairly quiet place. Go further in and you'll see some neighborhoods, maybe an auto parts store, restaurants with the word "sho'nuff" somewhere on the sign, and a heap of churches. Lots of churches and not a mosque in sight, if you catch my drift. Not a very diverse place. I always liked to think of these churches as "Sunday Social Clubs". Especially the church I spent many of my early days in (and not often by choice) .... Calvary Heights Baptist Church. I knew they liked their committees, but, from what I understand, things really hit the fan and the church split not long after I left.

I feel as though I may have wandered a bit from the subject. Thinking more about it, this may be a fair way of describing the city in general. Some wonderful people went to Calvary Heights. It was the backward thinking, ignorant bigots that ruined the place. The types of fundamentalist Christian conservatives who reeeeaaallly, honestly believe the GOP is working for them. Hey. If Rush says it's so, it must be so.

I'm not here to trash talk, though. Aside from my friends and family, there are a lot of things I miss.

The LAKE. Lake Martin is a beautiful man-made lake that is rapidly being overtaken by development. My grandfather helped build that dam, BTW. Speaking of Lake Martin, another thing I miss is Camp ASCCA. An Easter Seals camp where I worked as a program leader in 98.... Hmmmm. What else....? The city's proximity to DeSoto Caverns.

To be completely honest, it isn't a horrible place and folks aren't truly evil. Alot of them are just plain odd. Take the people who believe they are big fish, for instance. They very well may be in some ways. It's a small pond, however. A very small pond. Then there are the people who will tar and feather you if you're into Dungeons & Dragons. Not because they think you're a dork, but because they're afraid you are somehow going to unleash Satan upon the earth with your witchcraft and wizardry. My advice to them is to get out of town from time to time. See the world. Travel changes you.

To the people of AC who would give you the shirts off their backs without a second thought.... the ones who work hard, love their families, and just like to have good, harmless fun.... the free-thinkers and dreamers who don't quite fit the mold.... YOU are the ones who make the town worth going back to.

Well... that and the town's proximity to Birmingham.

Nawlins: Know Ya Lingo

Here's a rough draft I did for Sarah a while back. She had some team members coming into town and wanted me to make a little New Orleans guide for them.

Just some lingo and translations. I took the pic at a Mardi Gras parade this year.

Happy Shark Week!

It's Shark Week 2011 on Discovery! Big woot goes out to Andy Samberg for being their CSO (Chief Shark Officer). I know I'm giving them free advertising, and usually I am loathe to do something like that. I'm just REALLY into Shark Week.

Sure. Sharks freak me the hell out. I don't like being anywhere that I'm not at the top of the food chain. Doesn't stop me going into the water tho. I just look around alot.

Starts tonight on The Discovery Channel.

A Farewell to Arams

A fond farewell to our very good friend Aram! You will be greatly missed. Wii Sports and Apples to Apples will never be the same. Good luck and come back to visit soon... We love ya, man!

PS- I'm watching The IT Crowd right now!

The Mighty Jungle

1994- ?

It's been 17 years since I started drawing and writing The Mighty Jungle. This sample was for a website I created in 1999 to promote my work.

I'd originally started the idea as a proposal for a daily newspaper comic strip. It's still not out of the question. Unfortunately, my notorious lack of motivation holds me back. All I'd have to do is submit it.... Maybe more PG rated, though . Sure. I've succeeded at getting my work published over the years. This one, however, I found myself drawing mostly for me and my friends.

I named my 3 main characters after Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein, and Isaac Newton. Weirdly enough, my favorite ended up being Otto the Alligator. Originally a sideline, but maybe the one I associated with the most. Characters do develop and evolve, which I can attest to, because all of them started to take lives of their own. Otto is a superb example of that. I'd gone from writer to documenter in no time flat.

By today's standards they would be a cliche. A belching, swearing, offensive group indeed. Four animals living in the city with human relatives and human jobs (Otto is a computer programmer). They went to strip clubs, they were stalked by a psychotic.... stalker, and dug up a dead grand-dad for a "grandson/grandfather" photo contest. Which they won. I think it was for 500 dollars. Wouldn't YOU dig up your grand-dad for 500 bucks? Maybe not.

It's a comic strip, folks.

Angels, Cybermen, and Spoilers...

Wellllll..... Not exactly spoilers, but the trailer does raise some interesting questions. The biggest I believe is, "Why is River Song wearing that eyepatch?". Is she really Madame Kovarian? Is Madame Kovarian really The Rani? Is The Rani really "Rani" in The Sarah Jane Adventures, but as a kid?...... Or did she just get a job as a French Quarter pirate impersonator?

Doctor Who returns Aug. 27th at 8c with (and by god this is the worst Who title in history) "Let's Kill Hitler". Other than that it looks like a great 2nd half of the 2011 series. As long as the Moff doesn't wibbley wobbley, timey wimey the show into the ground.

Monty Python- The Tale of Sir Lancelot

Since I'm going to gone all day, I thought I'd post this little gem I found on YouTube from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Enjoy and I'll be back tomorrow!

Hitchin' a ride with the Russians...

Today marked the end of the Space Shuttle program for the United States. For the foreseeable future, if an American wants to go into orbit he or she will have a multi-million dollar cab fare.

The picture attached was taken by the International Space Station crew as Atlantis made its final descent. It was the end of an era and the end of a sporadic, yet lucrative tourist trade in Cape Canaveral. What would Apollo astronaut Major Anthony Nelson think of all this? Not much. He's busy making out with Jeannie.

I'm not going to be too critical. It was time for the shuttle program to end. Government run space organizations and private enterprise have made leaps forward which would soon have made the shuttle obsolete. Is that vague yet specific enough to make me sound like I know what I'm talking about?

To commemorate one of the most successful endeavors in human history, I present you with some fun facts (conveniently copied and pasted from The Huntsville Times.... Hey! That's where Space Camp is!).

An Xbox 360 has far more power than the flight computer

The flight computer aboard the space shuttle has less than one percent of the power of an Xbox 360 game console. Astronauts load programs directing the phases of a mission - liftoff, orbit, landing - into the computer one at a time after removing the program for the previous segment. Why hasn't NASA upgraded the computer? The agency values its 30-year history of reliability. That said, astronauts don't go into space with only one computer. Crew laptops and other laptops also make the trip.

Thank 'Star Trek' for the first shuttle's name

The space shuttle has a "Star Trek" connection. Fans of the original TV show flooded NASA in the 1970s with letters urging the first orbiter be named for the spaceship in the show, and the White House responded by changing its planned name to Enterprise. The Enterprise, however, never had an engine and never flew in space. It was used for tests to prove the craft could fly through the atmosphere and land. What was the name originally planned for the Enterprise? Constitution.

Night launches rare

The space shuttle launched at night for 34 of its 135 total flights, counting the scheduled last launch on July 8.

Gas sucker

If the orbiter's main engines pumped water instead of fuel, they would drain an average-sized swimming pool every 25 seconds. Because liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuel the main engines, the majority of exhaust produced is water vapor.

4.5 million pounds of shuttle

The space shuttle "stack," including the orbiter, solid rocket boosters and external tank, weighs more than 4.5 million pounds at launch. It has 3.5 million pounds of propellants that will be entirely consumed in liftoff.

So Long and Thanks For All the Phish

Books, movies, and music! These are a few of my favorite things. Sadly, Borders will be closing it's doors for good by the end of September. Sure. It's not as cool a place as it used to be. I worked at the Duluth location (by Gwinnett Mall outside of Atlanta) years ago. Met my ex-wife there. That was back when we got a monthly employee credit of 150 bucks. Interesting fact: I am responsible for a company-wide rule that restricted employees from using their credit in the cafe (I really liked the veggie burgers).

Ahhhhhhh! Great days! We could wear whatever we wanted so long as it wasn't too offensive. We even designed our own name badges. Mine was a sketch that I did of a surprised looking Opus yelling, "Jay is really Steve Dallas?!". Well.... At some point after my departure, they did away with the store credit. Employees couldn't creatively express themselves like in the old days. And merchandise prices went waaaaaay up. We'd always made fun of Barnes and Noble for being too stiff, and they ended up winning in the end.

I say, "Thank you, Borders!", for turning me on to music, movies, and books that I would never have found. Shame on you, too, for giving up your identity. You forgot your roots. You are nothing like that first store you opened in Ann Arbor, and I believe that is part of what led to your downfall. I was so excited when you opened a store on St. Charles Ave. (right up the road from where I live), and so disappointed when you closed it a few years later. In this area of New Orleans all we have are shoe shops, bars, and antiques stores. Perhaps a bit of an exaggeration.... but not a big one. Pity us.

We'll miss ya, Borders. And those yummy veggie burgers.

If I Want To See Reality, I'll Walk Outside

In my humble opinion, quality television began its death throes in the 90's with "M"TV and "The Real World". Admittedly, there are a few reality shows that I like. Whale Wars, American Pickers, Deadliest Catch to name a few. Shows like Jersey Shore, Survivor, Big Brother, Insert City Where Housewives Reside Here, and anything that involves Paris Hilton are insipid and show humanity at its absolute worst. Now that I have your spirits up, here's a list of the winter "reality" shows. I'll leave it to you to pick the good from the bad.....

January

• Worst Cooks in America 2, My Fair Wedding with David Tutera, Rich Bride, Poor Bride, The Bachelor 15, Live to Dance, The Biggest Loser: Couples, Dangerous Encounters, Chopped, Ghost Hunters International, I Shouldn’t Be Alive, Border Wars, Wipeout, Jersey Shore, Ace of Cakes, Season 25: Oprah Behind the Scenes, Your OWN Show: Oprah’s Search for the Next TV Star, Confessions: Animal Hoarding, Basketball Wives, Alaska State Troopers, Ax Men, Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane, Bad Girls Club, You’re Cut Off , The X Life, Teen Mom, Campus PD, Sons of Guns, Police Women of Cincinnati, Beyond Scared Straight, Flying Wild Alaska, Conviction Kitchen, Brooklyn Kinda Love, Wild Animal Repo, Hogs Wild, Heavy, Genuine Ken: The Search for the Great American Boyfriend, Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, American Idol 10, Restaurant: Impossible, Kitchen Nightmares (We were actually in an episode of this show), Meet the In-Laws, My Big Redneck Wedding, An Idiot Abroad, Kourtney & Kim Take New York, Holly’s World, Cake Boss, RuPaul’s Drag Race, Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?, A Stand Up Mother, Face Off, Kidnap & Rescue, Pit Boss, Boomtown, Brick City, Donald J. Trump’s Fabulous World of Golf...
• February
• One Born Every Minute, Million Dollar Listing, Who Do You Think You Are?, Top Gear, Top Shot 2, My Life As Liz, Quad Squad, Glamour Belles, Fatal Attractions, The Real Housewives of New York City, Survivor Redemption Island, Our America with Lisa Ling, Man vs. Wild, Out of the Wild: Venezuela, The Amazing Race 18, America’s Next Top Model, Shedding for the Wedding, Ghost Hunters, Bethenny Ever After, Bad Girls Club: Flo Gets Married, Marcel’s Quantum Kitchen
• March

• Beast Hunter, American Loggers, Secret Millionaire, America’s Next Great Restaurant, Chopped All-Stars, The Real Housewives of Orange County, The Family Crews, The Celebrity Apprentice 4, Taking on Tyson, Too Fat for 15: Fighting Back, All About Aubrey, The Real World 25: Las Vegas, Love & Hip Hop, Manhunters: Fugitive Task Force, Ton of Cash, Beverly Hills Fabulous, Shark Tank, Addicted to Food, What the Sell?!, Coal, Swamp People, Aaaaaaannnnnnddddddd.... Destination Truth.

Whew. I dunno about you, but I'm keeping MY eyes open for "Nail Files".....

Shadow Puppets and Cussin'

Just watched a contemporary interpretation of Dante's Inferno (one of my favorite literary works). It is described as "The unholy offspring of Mike Judge and R. Crumb" by Robert Adele of the LA Times. I found it funny, relevant, and highly irreverent. The shadow puppetry was a bit boring at first, but improved along the way. The big musical number about lobbyists was the highlight of the movie. Watching a giant, red devil eating people dipped in Cheez Whiz and drinking RC was bizarrely entertaining as well (not as grotesque as it sounds). The film itself has its grotesque moments, however, so I wouldn't recommend it to the easily offended. James Cromwell is brilliant as the voice of Virgil, considering the fact that all Romans are supposed to have British accents.

Overall, a good watch and fairly faithful to the spirit of the original work.

Woot

Hello and welcome! Willkommen! Bienvenue! Of course, I might as well be talking to myself since a) this is my first post and b) I'm currently the only person reading this.

However, if you do happen to find yourself here, which you obviously have, I'm certainly glad ya dropped by!

In upcoming posts you can look forward to some of my very best, hand-picked ramblings about everyday life in New Orleans, adventures with my partner Sarah, photos, graphics, comics, and videos. Oh... And here's a shocker. I will occasionally bring news and commentary of some of my awesomest favorite things. Doctor Who, movies, science stuff, and politics to name only a few. So strap in! Let me know what ya think. Hopefully I can provoke a little thought or at least a chuckle.

Cheers! -Jay