Archive for September 15th, 2008
Texas Coast Faces Massive Recovery After Hurricane Ike
After the storm had passed, rescue operations to reach those affected by Hurricane Ike finally began on Monday to survey the damage and evacuate survivors.
More than two days after Hurricane Ike slammed the Gulf Coast, rescuers flew for the first time Monday into areas cut off by the storm and found a scene of devastation, with whole subdivisions obliterated, and began evacuating survivors.
A Texas helicopter task force flew 115 rescuers onto the heavily damaged resort barrier island of Bolivar Peninsula, just east of hard-hit Galveston. Task force leader Chuck Jones said they were the first rescuers to reach the area that is home to about 30,000 people in the peak summer beach season.
“They had a lot of devastation over there,” Jones said. “It took a direct hit.”
In less than two weeks, the Hurricane wrought massive devastation across several countries. View a slideshow of images from Hurricane Ike here.
In its brief lifespan of only 13 days, Hurricane Ike wreaked great deal of havoc. Affecting several countries including Cuba, Haiti, and the United States, Ike is blamed for approximately 114 deaths (74 in Haiti alone), and damages that are still being tallied, with estimates topping $10 billion. Many shoreline communities of Galveston, Texas were wiped from the map by the winds, storm surge and the walls of debris pushed along by Ike – though Galveston was spared the level of disaster it suffered in 1900.
Nevertheless, local food banks in some of the hardest hit areas are now finding themselves unable to provide assistance to local residents:
Update: Sept. 15 – Capital Area Food Bank of Texas is now desperate. As of 2:00 p.m. they can no longer fulfill donations of food boxes. As of 3:00 p.m. their donations are depleted. Please help! A $5 donation = $20 worth of food and necessities distributed by by the food bank. They have also added dog food and personal care items to their list of most needed donations (see above).
All told, the hurricane could cost insurers anywhere from $8 to $18 billion as a result of the extensive and far-reaching damage.
Hurricane Ike, which ravaged densely populated parts of Texas over the weekend, could cost insurance companies between $8 billion and $18 billion, according to estimates.
The powerful Category 2 hurricane likely caused extensive damage to structures in coastal regions and high rises, Risk Management Solutions said in a press release on Sunday.
Many properties in Galveston, which was the major coastal city that sustained Ike’s most severe blows, “are insured through the state of Texas,” Robert P. Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute, told FOX Business on Monday. “In extreme coastal areas, you might see less private-sector involvement than you might think.”
Tags: Texas | Houston | Hurricane | Storm | coast | United States | World | city | Haiti | Galveston | Cost | gulf | insurance | EVACUATE | IKE | insurer
Sarah Palin Amused By Tina Fey’s SNL Impression
If you have yet to see Tina Fey transform into Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live this past weekend, do yourself a favour and watch it here.
And as ‘cute’ as it is that Palin found Fey’s impersonation ‘amusing’, isn’t it a bit strange that Palin dressed up as Tina Fey for Halloween one year? Isn’t that kind of like John McCain dressing up as Stephen Colbert to hand out sweet bites of ‘truthiness’ to would-be trick-or-treaters?
Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin was amused by Tina Fey’s impression of her on this weekend’s “Saturday Night Live,” especially as she once dressed up as Fey for Halloween.
“She thought it was quite funny, particularly because she once dressed up as Tina Fey for Halloween,” her spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt said, according to CBS News. Fey bears a much-remarked-upon resemblance to Palin, and they wear similar glasses.
In the skit, Fey appeared with Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton and the two talked about sexism in the media and their own ideas about politics. “I don’t agree with the Bush doctrine,” Poehler said at one point.
“I don’t know what that is,” Fey responded, poking fun at the recent Charlie Gibson interview in which some said Palin appeared not to be familiar with the Bush doctrine on terrorism.
Tags: New York | Culture | TV | Bush | governor | television | Clinton | Senator | Sarah | Night | Halloween | Live | McCain | Saturday | snl | tina | Doctrine | AMY | fey | impression | Poehler | culturite | Palin
Best Buy(s) Napster for $121 Million
American retail giant Best Buy has acquired the (fl)ailing web music service Napster for a cool $121 million.
I’m still trying to figure out if this is a good thing for either company. To some extent, it will save Napster from spiralling completely into online obscurity, and it will give Best Buy access to Napster’s technologies and 700,000 subscribers, but will it buoy either brand in a current business climate that places iTunes firmly ahead of all other competitors?
The retail chain Best Buy says it will buy the ailing online music service Napster for $121 million — about twice the price at which the stock market had valued the company. Napster shares closed on Friday at $1.36, but Best Buy agreed to pay nearly twice that: $2.65.
Napster stock had plummeted 95 percent over the past six years, causing JDS Capital Management to proclaim that Napster was worth more dead than alive and some larger investors to revolt against the Napster board and demand that they be put in charge. It looks like their worries, to a certain extent, are over. Napster’s board agreed unanimously to the merger.
But what exactly is Best Buy acquiring?
In case you need a refresher on what Napster actually does these days, it’s important to recognize that the service abandoned Microsoft’s DRM in its music store, and now sells unrestricted MP3s. However, it must continue applying Microsoft DRM to its catalog of subscription files, access to which starts at $13 per month. In addition, its free.napster.com site allows people to stream and e-mail on-demand tracks for free.
Tags: Music | Technology | itunes | online | MP3 | drm | Best Buy | retail | SERVICE | CHAIN | napster | culturite | Tech & Biz
Lost Agatha Christie Audiotapes Discovered
A large collection of previously unknown audiotapes recorded by acclaimed British mystery writer Agatha Christie have been discovered in one of her former houses in Devon. The tapes offer a highly personal “dictation of her life story” and Christie’s estate are considering releasing them or updating her autobiography as a result.
Uttered in the reedy voice of Christie herself, these withering descriptions are contained on a cache of audiotapes, recently discovered in a dusty cardboard box in one of her former houses by her only grandson, Mathew Prichard.
The tapes — 27 reels running a total of more than 13 hours — are filled with Christie’s painstaking dictation of her life story, rough material recorded in the early 1960s that eventually made up her autobiography, published posthumously in 1977. It stands as one of only a handful of recordings of Christie, the British mystery writer, who rarely agreed to be interviewed.
Christie’s estate is expected to announce its discovery on Monday, the 118th anniversary of her birth, calling the tapes a rare find and a significant addition to the collection of memorabilia related to Christie.
In Britain the appetite for all things Agatha Christie is still fierce. Devoted fans still mark her birthday with a weeklong festival of theater performances, treasure hunts, teas and murder-mystery parties. And while her books have never been considered high literary art, more than 500,000 copies of them are sold in Britain each year. She has been outsold in volume only by Shakespeare and the Bible.
Taking into account such strong interest, Christie’s estate is considering releasing part of the tapes or publishing a new, updated version of her autobiography.
Nevertheless, Christie’s grandson has indicated that he does not intend to make all of the recordings available to the public:
Her grandson, Mr. Prichard, who is also the chairman of Agatha Christie Limited, said he does not intend to make every minute of the tapes public. “One thing we probably won’t do is release in its entirety the discovery we’ve made,” he said. “There are quite extensive parts that are confused and slightly rambling and obviously had to be quite seriously edited for the autobiography.”
Tags: Britain | Culture | Life | arts | Literature | recordings | author | books | Mystery | story | TAPES | published | Autobiography | christie | Prichard | agatha | culturite
Jack White’s James Bond Theme Used in Coke Ad
NowPublic previously reported that Jack White and Alicia Keys teamed up to record ‘Another Way To Die‘ as a theme song for the upcoming James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, to be released in October.
However, after discovering that an instrumental version of the song is being used for a Coca-Cola advertisement, Jack White has spoken out to express his disappointment.
Watch the ad here.
White Stripes frontman Jack White has reportedly spoken out against the use of his Bond theme duet with Alicia Keys on a Coca Cola television advert.
An instrumental version of Another Way To Die, from new Bond film Quantum of Solace, is featured in a 007-themed advert for the Coke Zero drink.
He reportedly says in a statement he is “disappointed” the song is being heard for the first time on an advert.
He wrote the song for the film, “not for Coca Cola”, the statement adds.
“Any other use of the song is based on decisions made by others, not by Jack White,” NME.com quoted the statement as saying.
The advertisement containing the song is currently being hosted at The Guardian’s website and will be incorporated into a Coke-themed TV spot as well:
The new advert is currently being hosted at Guardian.co.uk.
The song is set be used in a global Coca Cola TV advert, with Coke Zero rebranded as Zero Zero 7 to reflect Bond’s 007 code name as part of the campaign.
Tags: Culture | Music | TV | Ad | television | James | coca | advert | COLA | JACK | white | COKE | pop | BOND | Soft Drink | Keys | theme | 007 | version | disappointed | instrumental | duet | Alicia | white stripes | quantum of solace
Sarah Silverman Wins Emmy For ‘Matt Damon’ Clip
Sarah Silverman’s infamous “I’m F—- Matt Damon” music video, a hilarious and raunchy dedication to her ex-boyfriend Jimmy Kimmel, has not only been viewed almost 4.5 million times on YouTube, it has also racked up an Emmy Award win over the weekend.
Silverman was quick to point out that, of course, Damon’s star power had little to do with the success. It’s all about Sarah’s songwriting, isn’t it?
Sarah Silverman may have won an Emmy award for a song boasting of a romance with Matt Damon, but it was her ex-boyfriend, Jimmy Kimmel, whom the comedian thanked from the stage.
“Let’s be honest, Matt Damon had very little to do with this being popular,” Silverman, 37, said while accepting her award at the Creative Arts Emmys for the salty music video “I’m F—— Matt Damon” at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.
“Thanks to the person for whom this whole video was made: Jimmy Kimmel, who broke my heart – ohh, who’ll always have a place in my heart,” Silverman continued.
Star Trek’s George Takei Marries Partner Brad Altman
After becoming the first person to purchase a same-sex marriage license in California, actor George Takei, who played Mr. Sulu on the original Star Trek TV series, married his longtime partner Brad Altman on Sunday.
George Takei and his longtime partner, Brad Altman, have agreed to live long and prosper together.
Takei, 71, and Altman, 54, were married Sunday in a multicultural ceremony at the Japanese American National Museum that featured a Buddhist priest, Native American wedding bands, a Japanese Koto harp and a bagpipe procession.
The couple, both clad in white dinner jackets with black pants, made a grand entrance to the tune of “One Singular Sensation” from the Broadway musical “A Chorus Line.” They stepped into a circle of yellow roses and lilies, where they shared a traditional Japanese tea ceremony and were wed by a Buddhist priest.
The couple, who have been together for 21 years, wrote their own vows.
Tags: California | Culture | TV | Entertainment | Los Angeles | Celebrity | marriage | television | United States | george | American | actor | PARTNER | JAPANESE | Ceremony | brad | star trek | Altman | marries | same-sex | longtime | culturite | Takei
Literary World Mourns Loss of David Foster Wallace
As NowPublic previously reported, one of the most gifted and incredible writers that I have ever had the pleasure of reading, David Foster Wallace, died on Friday at the age of 46, after an apparent suicide.
From Infinite Jest through to Brief Interviews With Hideous Men and Oblivion, his powerful writing was intricate, high-minded and often stupefyingly brilliant.
“Church Not Made With Hands” stands alone as his finest piece of writing and as a transcendent, heartbreakingly beautiful work of contemporary literature.
Wallace will be immensely missed.
David Foster Wallace, whose prodigiously observant, exuberantly plotted, grammatically and etymologically challenging, philosophically probing and culturally hyper-contemporary novels, stories and essays made him an heir to modern virtuosos like Thomas Pynchon and Don DeLillo, an experimental contemporary of William T. Vollmann, Mark Leyner and Nicholson Baker and a clear influence on younger tour-de-force stylists like Dave Eggers and Jonathan Safran Foer, died on Friday at his home in Claremont, Calif. He was 46.
Mr. Wallace was an apparent suicide. A spokeswoman for the Claremont police said Mr. Wallace’s wife, Karen Green, returned home to find that her husband had hanged himself. Mr. Wallace’s father, James Donald Wallace, said in an interview on Sunday that his son had been severely depressed for a number of months.
Authors, publishers, fans, and others in the literary world are coming together in grief after learning of Wallace’s tragic suicide:
The literary world is in grief for David Foster Wallace, an author of seemingly unstoppable curiosity, imagination and ambition who apparently killed himself last week. Readers are seeking out his work, including his 1,000-page novel “Infinite Jest” and the essay collection “Consider the Lobster.”
Wallace, who wrote with an explosive, ironic, but deeply serious passion about subjects ranging from tennis and politics to mathematics and cruise ships, was found dead by his wife in his home Friday night, according to the Claremont, Calif., police department. The 46-year-old author apparently hanged himself.
“He was the best of our generation, and his death is a loss beyond describing,” Richard Powers, winner of the National Book Award in 2006 for the novel “The Echo Maker,” told The Associated Press on Sunday.
“I am so sad – stunned – it reminds us all of how fragile we are, and how close at hand the darkness is,” said fellow author A.M. Homes, whose books include the novel “The End of Alice” and “The Mistress’s Daughter,” a memoir. “He was a wonderful writer, a generous friend, and a singular talent.”
A native of Ithaca, N.Y., Wallace was often compared to Thomas Pynchon and Don DeLillo as an avatar of the Information Age, a visionary and eclectic as hip to ancient Greece and British poetry as he was to computers and television and popular culture. He also wrote often about addiction, depression and suicide, a post-1960s Dystopia in which “irony, irreverence, and rebellion come to be not liberating but enfeebling.”
Wallace was far better known to his peers than to the general public, but news of his death led to a quick jump in sales for his books. As of Sunday night, “Infinite Jest” was in the top 20 on Amazon.com and “Consider the Lobster” was in the top 75. Several of his books were out of stock.
Tags: California | Culture | book | United States | author | suicide | david | DIES | Wallace | foster | Pynchon | publisher | Delillo | infinite | jest | Oblivion | brief interviews | hideous men | consider the lobster | church not made with hands
