Bright Lights In The Big Easy
New Orleans has long been a favorite setting for big name producers and newcomers hoping to make theirs big. The city, the historic French Quarter as well as the surrounding bayou country has so much to offer a production company it is no wonder that some thirty odd movies are scheduled to be filmed here.
It was awesome to happen on to the filming of the Canal Street car crash scene in the John Cena movie Twelve Rounds during one NOLA visit. Thanks to a really cool production assistant, a group of us including my nieces and nephews were thrilled to be able to watch up close and personal.
While that was exciting it was even more so when I got an opportunity to actually participate in the new Kate Hudson movie, Earthbound, being filmed in and around the Crescent City. It is a romantic comedy which includes other names like Gael Garcia Bernal, Alan Dale, Whoopi Goldberg, Kathy Bates and Treat Williams. In the film Kate has cancer (she had to lose twenty pounds for the role) Whoopi is God, and Gael is the young doctor that Kate falls for. There is no word yet on when the Nicole Kassell directed flick will hit the theater.
Most young girls at some point entertain thoughts of being in a movie. My three year old granddaughter wants to be a “moo-moo tar” herself! I have to admit I was no different, but I had put that behind me a long time ago, probably
about the same time I put up my Barbie dolls. So when a friend who was involved in the project suggested that since I was always in New Orleans anyway I should get involved too. I thought “what the heck”, never really believing it would happen.
What a surprise when I was contacted the same day to take part as an extra (called “background” in the biz) in a Gala Fund Raiser scene of New Orleans supposedly wealthiest patrons being shot at Oak Alley Plantation. Oak Alley Plantation, a historic property located on the Mississippi River in Vacherie, Louisiana, is a National Historic Landmark. For a history lover like me this was going to be way cool, but due to the weather the scene was moved at the last minute. We actually filmed the scene at Gallier Hall on St. Charles Avenue.
The whole behind the scenes experience from wardrobe and make-up to Star orbit etiquette was a definite eye opener for me. I will never look at movies or some “Stars” in the same way again. About the only familiar terminology to me was “first team” and “second team”. I knew what it meant in basketball and sure enough it is the same in movies. First team is the actual Stars and Second team is the Stand-ins (people who resemble the Stars).
It will be really interesting to see the finished product and what actually makes it into the film. I think I have a fairly good shot since I was included in most of the shooting that day. There is nothing like having the “clap board” snapped in front of your face. “Quiet on the set, Rolling, Sound, Background” – and that was the cue for us extras to start our little pantomime party.
It was a hoot! So much for my illusions of being transformed into a beautiful glamour goddess, the joke was on me. 
Look for really big hair! (because I’m supposedly really rich! Who knew big hair and big money were synonymous?!) It took a little while to get used to people coming up to me and messing with my hair and brushing stuff on my face all day. Overall I met some really great people and heard some very entertaining stories from the veteran extras about past “background” roles.
It was a fun new experience but an eighteen hour day in heels, with make-up caked on my face and a teased up ball of hair on my head is not my idea of the glamorous life. Please don’t misunderstand though, even with the minor disillusionment, aching feet and contacts melted on my eyeballs (the lights are really hot and bright) I would gladly answer the call “background” again!
By Sharon Denise Talbot
Does Spain’s low murder rate prove that "bad economies" DO NOT lead to crime?
Spain currently has 20% unemployment. It also has a huge illegal immigrant population from North Africa and South America, lots of somewhat crappy apartment-tower housing projects, and it is on a major drug distribution route coming up from Algeria and Morocco.
It also has extremely soft laws. There is no death penalty, and no life without parole. it has strict gun laws, meaning that law-abiding people are disarmed, while criminals are armed.
By all accounts, it should be a very violent and murderous place.
However, the Madrid region had a murder rate in 2009 that was FIFTY-EIGHT times lower than New Orleans. It’s also 13 times lower than Dallas, 6.5 times lower than NYC, and about half the rate of the safest big city in all of America (El Paso).
We have no excuse. In states like Louisiana (home to New Orleans), unemployment is WAY lower than 20%. Private citizens DO have firearms. There IS a death penalty AND life without parole.
And yet, the murder rate is 58 times higher in NOLA than Madrid.
This proves that there is no link between a bad economy and violent crimes such as homicide.
The recipe for murder is:
Poverty + Drugs + Guns
Poverty alone doesn’t cause murder
Drugs alone don’t cause murder
Guns alone don’t cause murder
You need to mix the ingredients to get results.
The only ingredient in that recipe that can be substituted or taken out is drugs. You will always have more murders where the other 2 ingredients are present. As someone else pointed out, Spain is missing one of the key ingredients, Guns, with very low gun ownership.
Even though Spain has high unemployment, those who are unemployed are still in a less desperate environment than places like Thailand, because there are many social programs to help them and Spain ranks pretty high on the Quality of Life Index. Cities in the USA are similar, so what separates the 2 is that third ingredient, Guns. I’m sure Spain’s ghettos still rival USA’s when it comes to other crimes like robbery and rape.
http://www1.internationalliving.com/qofl2010/
Switzerland is irrelevant (to those who mention it every time the issue of guns comes up) because people in Switzerland have a higher standard of living since there’s so many rich expats there. People like to say that the reason Switzerland has low murder rates is because they are all armed. That’s ridiculous because Japan has lower murder rates than Switzerland and nobody is armed in Japan. Japan has a higher standard of living and is very expensive to live, just like Switzerland. That’s one of the main deciding factors, it’s not just guns alone. Arm people in Beverly Hills and you will have less shootings than if you arm people in Compton. It’s not race, and it’s not poverty. It’s a mixture of things but poverty plays a role in that mixture and when you mix poverty, drugs, and guns, you have a recipe for murder. Murders peaked in the USA from 1985-1990. That was the crack era, and it’s obvious that it was crack that caused that peak. Not just crack, but greed and poverty (and guns), because with crack came money and more organized gangs and greed and gangs were knocking each other off for corners.
Do some Hurricane Katrina survivors think we owe them rent for the rest of their lives?
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina occurred in 2005 and people are still getting rent subsidies. Shouldn’t they have moved along by now, it is 2011?
Were they a government dependent class before the Hurricane – is this just a continuation of the entitlement mentality?
http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/end_of_rent_help_is_a_disaster.html
“End of rent help is a disaster for many Hurricane Katrina victims”
Hurricane Katrina is creating a feeling of entitlement.
yes, yes and yes…. we reap what we sow… in this case, a Big Brother (government) Will Take Care Of You mindset… and that passes from generation to generation. It’s not doing anyone any favors, since people don’t use their God-given talents and skills to provide for themselves and their families and build a future of which they can be proud. It’s actually an insult… but that’s not how it’s perceived.
Hurricane Katrina
Do you think the movie "match point" portray the human nature well?
Frankly, i think Nola Rice(Scarlett’s character) had it coming when she started pressuring him to the point of threatening to go to his wife/ruining his life of luxury. She should have known that it was simply an affair for her anyway because all he/she did all the time was having sex behind Chloe’s back. At least his wife have a life with him in a sense.
I believe when a man is pushed to the line where he must decide if he is going to lose everything he had for a woman that he simply lust for sex with. He will choose the life of luxury instead. Like him said in a movie, if he chose her, what is he going to live, to be what, to do as what? it’s not worth it.
I think it’s more about choosing between what people are saying he should have and the rebellion against it….
and she so didn’t "have it coming", jeez there’s not a contract or guidelines when you enter into an affair, she was totally in her right to ask the lunatic to be with her…
Quint & Nola – Nola In The Hospital (part 6/14) – Guiding Light 1982
Guiding Light – September 1982 – Nola In The Hospital
Kelly allows Quint to wait in Nolas room while shes asleep. Quint promises to call the nurse as soon as Nola wakes up. As he watches her sleep, he thinks about when he rescued Nola from Silas.
Quint sits next to the bed and as Nola sleeps, he pours his heart out to her, telling her how much he loves her. He tells her how much he fought loving her because he feels his life is cursed and that she would get hurt. That hes frightened because everytime he allows himself to love someone, he loses them forever. But he affirms that he does love her.
He tells her that he knew from the first moment he met her that he knew he could love her if he let himself. And that no matter how much he fought it, she broke through his defenses and he fell in love with her anyway. He tells her how shes taught him so muchhow to live again, how to enjoy life, and how to love again.
Again, he tells her he loves her and then says, God help us both.
Right after he says that, he camera moves to Nola, whose eyes are open and shes listening to his every word.
Kelly Nelson – John Shipp
Quint McCord – Michael Tylo
Nola Reardon – Lisa Brown
Duration : 0:8:37
Life is wonderful!
http://www.orteo.net (408) 892 2615 Email: tortiz@orteo.net hey how are you hope this video makes sense to you please give me your comments thanks..
Duration : 57 sec
Book Signing Events- Sharon Denise Talbot
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Switchfoot plays Bullet Soul @ New Orleans House of Blues- 11.21.2009
Switchfoot allowed a member of the audience (named Brandon) to come up and play Bullet Soul after they noticed a sign he was holding asking if he could do so. I’ve seen Switchfoot do this at other shows as well which is another reason that they’re probably my favorite band. These guys know the impact they make on a fan when they help them create this life long memory. Props to Switchfoot, what a great bunch of guys.
Duration : 0:3:51
Who Dat Want Internet Service?
Hey y’all! Great news! I have just found out about a broadband satellite internet that is perfect for you guys down the bayou. You know how it is living out in the boonies, slow or no internet service.
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WildBlue high-speed Satellite Internet Service has 5 gateways located throughout U.S. and Canada that efficiently connects the WildBlue satellite network with the Internet. Each gateway consists of microwave, Internet, and other broadband equipment that quickly and efficiently routes traffic from the customer’s PC to the Internet and back. WildBlue connects the gateways to Internet via state-of-the-art fiber backbone.
That may be a little more than you need to know but the important thing is that it works! And it works FAST! No more slow dial-up service, no more no service with WildBlue. WildBlue offers high speed internet access over satellite to virtually everywhere in the U.S. If you live within the 48 continental United States and have a clear view of the southern sky, (look toward the Gulf) WildBlue satellite broadband is available to you.
Down – Losing All (NOLA)
Lyrics:
My brain distorts the pleasure,
No facts behind my eyes.
This pain I’ve come to treasure,
Being down has become my life…
Don’t know which one is real,
Been kicked in the groin
I drown the way I feel,
Though I will to go
Losing all
I’m lord of misery
I’m king of the hill
I’m a broken man of the world
In a state of
My wrists are slit,
I’m losing all.
Gun at my head,
I’m losing all.
My bones are broken,
I’m losing all
Last time I had,
I’m losing all
Losing all
Duration : 0:4:22
