Not actually planning on writing anything for a few days. Things here suck--got in an accident last night--but things are so much worse elsewhere that I don't feel like it's worth saying anything.

Welcome to MichaelMoore.com!: "Dear Mr. Bush:
Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.
Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?"

(Thanks to Nainsi)

Sara Ryan: Coffee and chicory, regular

So I was coping okay with the New Orleans tragedy, the way you do when you're at a distance and don't know anyone there. And then I read this post from Sara Ryan, and I thought, "I know that place. I've been to Cafe du Monde." And that suddenly just made it personal.

Six, seven years ago, I stayed at a bed & breakfast at New Orleans, run by a young woman who had raised the money to buy the place by working as a sailor. And, sometime in the past six years, I lost her card with her address and phone number and everything, and I find myself hoping that she's okay.

NBC sends armed guards to lawless Gulf Coast - Yahoo! News: "NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - NBC News has sent private
security personnel to the increasingly dicey Gulf Coast region
to help keep its employees safe while covering the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina.

The private security officers, usually former soldiers or
police, are licensed to carry firearms and are trained to keep
the situation under control so that journalists can do their
jobs safely. That's becoming increasingly difficult in New
Orleans and in Gulfport, Miss., where there aren't enough
police or National Guardsmen to keep the streets safe."

I can't even begin to list all the pieces of "the future is going to suck" fiction that I've read that include public service tasks like policing and medical care being taken over by the private sector...

Okay, this'll be about TV. And it won't be too long, because other stuff is actually grabbing my attention more right now. But I can't talk about the family pressures, because that's family, and nobody's business. Can't talk about the personal stuff, because it's personal, and doesn't need to be broadcast over the internet. And can't talk about the work stuff, or next week's trip to Oregon, because someone involved may be reading this. Or not. You never know.

So, that leaves TV, and the first new show of the fall season to get my attention: Prison Break, on Fox. Decided to check it out since the soon-to-be-former TV Guide gave it an okay review, making it sound like "the good show on Fox that isn't House." (An aside about TV Guide: do they really think that converting it to a magazine about TV with minimal listings is really what anybody wants? Please. It's like Playboy; nobody reads TV Guide for the articles.)

Anyway, after the first hour, I liked it just fine, enough to want to watch the second hour. (This was not a two-hour episode, but two one-hour episodes back to back.) The acting is solid, the writing has that "we're a really serious drama, so nobody crack a smile" feel that made the first season of 24 worth watching, before they realized that there really isn't a second story, and it doesn't make me squirm in my chair the way Oz did on HBO. The problem is, it's a show about people trying to break out of prison called Prison Break. So what is necessarily the one thing that will not happen, ever? That's right. It's like Gilligan's Island, really. Only this stars Dominic Purcell from Blade: Trinity, which I did see, and John Doe, which I did not. And it stars Sarah Wayne Callie, the good thing about WB's deservedly short-lived Tarzan series from, what, just last year, maybe? Or the year before that? So hard to remember the failures... Anyway, she's still all hot and stuff, in a more-mature-than-Jessica-Alba sort of way. And Robin Tunney is in it, too. So... Eye candy.

Time will tell.

Hooters serves up classic cheesecake: "Betty Boop, the saucy cartoon character who first appeared in 1930, is now making the rounds as the latest Hooters Girl.
"

For a variety of reasons, not able to write about the news right now. (What could I say that wouldn't just upset and depress me? Better to just donate money to help the folks in New Orleans, really.) But this one, I can't just let slide by.

James Bond 007 - CommanderBond.net - James Bond At Its Best - Latest News - Robert Wade Talks Haggis' 'Royale' Rewrite: "In an interview with James Bond screenwriter Robert Wade, screendaily.com today confirmed Oscar nominee Paul Haggis has joined Casino Royale's crew to rewrite the film's script. The trade revealed Haggis will do a three-week script polish on the second draft of the script before the January 2006 shoot."

Love James Bond, of course. Also love Paul Haggis' writing, ever since the first episode of Due South (the final season coming soon on DVD... can't actually be bothered to find a link right now, but feel free to Google it). They've got their peanut butter in my chocolate, they have.