Film Of Abandoned Amusement Park 6 Years After Katrina

As New Yorkers "recover" from Hurricane Irene, New Orleans this week will remember Katrina, the storm that truly devastated that city six years ago this week.  I recently came across a cool and creepy film of one of the ruins of Katrina which has been relatively untouched since 2005.  Six Flags had a relatively new amusement park in the city, located in the now-infamous Ninth Ward off a highway exit.  The park was swamped by the storm and basically abandoned.

Filmmaker Teddy Smith got into the park last year and shot some beautiful footage on a Canon 5D.  This film screened at the Dallas film festival earlier this year.  Meanwhile in NOLA, the park's future is still in doubt though there was a recent announcement of a plan to redevelop it and the city to take bids on it.  But for now, it is an eerie reminder of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

A Stella Screaming Contest in New Orleans

The 25th Annual Tennessee Williams Festival wrapped up in New Orleans over the weekend.  It's an annual event that brings together scholars, fans and theater folk for discussion and some presentations of the famed playwrights' work.  One of the more interesting events was a "Stella!" shouting contest where some guys yelled at a balcony on Jackson Square, recreating the classic scene from A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE.  God knows what Williams would have thought of all the screaming...but he certainly would have been interested some of these attractive young men.  If he were alive, Tennessee Williams would turn 100 this week.