Louisiana Movies: In the Electric Mist

In the Electric Mist. From: IMDb

Movie: In the Electric Mist

Provenance: Based and filmed in and around New Iberia and St. Martinville, Louisiana

Based on a book by James Lee Burke: In the Electric Mist With Confederate Dead

Synopsis: Series of murders in and around New Iberia investigated by former alcoholic sheriff Dave Robichoux, including a murder from the long-ago past.

Wow - where has this movie been? Sometimes I take a break from watching a movie because it's a little dull and I go off to do other things. With this movie, sometimes I took a break so it would delay the ending.

The photography is beautiful and captures all that is entrancing about southern Louisiana. The misty bayous, the super-green, flat sugarcane fields, the alleés of live oaks. The low-brimmed Acadian houses with their deep porches, lawns that touch the water. You'd think it was a paradise, if you didn't remember the mosquitoes and the sopping humidity. 
 
Tommy Lee Jones and John Goodman are both a pleasure to watch, with TLJ determinedly lethal and Mr. Goodman Nero-like in his dissolution.

There are a few plot points that are a little off, but these are minor quibbles.   


Music from the movie

La Terre Tremblante:

Damn Right I've Got the Blues (in the movie performed by Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas), performed by Buddy Guy:

I'm a Hog For You, performed by Clifton Chenier:

Recommend? An enthusiastic yes! 

Louisiana: Mardi Gras Season Begins

Mardi Gras season at Walmart, Lafayette, Louisiana

There is a Mardi Gras season in Louisiana, which begins on January 6, the day before the Epiphany.

In Lafayette, the city runs the Mardi Gras flag up the city hall flagpole.

Krewes hold balls.

There are King Cake parties.

And Walmart puts out its Mardi Gras enticements: Masks, costumes, beads, King Cake, and .... root beer?

Jeanerette, Louisiana: The Flashing Red Light

LeJeune's Bakery, Jeanerette, Louisiana

Michel, one of my Louisiana cultural interpretors, told me about this bakery in Jeanerette where, if you see a red light flashing outside its door, it means there's bread fresh out of the oven, hot.

My brain collects factoids such as this, caching them into some data closet, so I heard the bakery information, and then forgot about it. Until, that is, when a few weeks later, on a Saturday morning, I was driving from Lafayette to Morgan City on Highway 182, entered into Jeanerette's business district - almost empty of pedestrian or vehicular activity - and saw a red light incongruously sticking out over a storefront sign.

How odd. Ohhhhh, LeJeune's Bakery! Was the light supposed to be flashing? Didn't remember, but parked the car, and went in.

LeJeune's Bakery, Jeanerette, Louisiana

Whereupon I saw warm, plump rolls just asking to be plucked. Too bad the bakery's Generation 6 happened to walk up right then, only to inform me the rolls had been promised to Generation 4, his grandmother.

LeJeune's Bakery, Jeanerette, Louisiana

I couldn't buy a roll, but the owner's son graciously allowed me to look at the bakery's heart, where the bread is made.

LeJeune's Bakery, Jeanerette, Louisiana

Here's a good video the regional news did on the bakery:

Note that one pronounces the family name lazhern and not lazhune. There's a good newspaper story about what the bakery did during ingredient shortages in World War II.

LeJeune's Bakery, Jeanerette, Louisiana

Will Generation 6 go into the business? Too soon to tell, but there's a precedent of non-linear transfers, so if the current direct line doesn't take over the business, maybe a cousin will.

LeJeune's Bakery, Jeanerette, Louisiana

The bread tastes as good as it looks in the picture above.
 

Jeanerette, Louisiana: The Sweetest Place in Louisiana

Sugarcane trucks, Jeanerette, Louisiana 

I'm kind of fascinated by the sugarcane harvesting. No idea why. But I like the shape of the trucks. The harvesting machines are like dinosaur robots. And the sugarcane is so green. 

I first wrote about sugarcane in Louisiana here.


Recently, I drove through Jeanerette ("the sweetest place in Louisiana"), which is on Highway 182.

Right on the edge of town, in the short-short video below, you can see: unharvested sugarcane, sugarcane being harvested, empty going out for more sugarcane, and the plant processing the cane. Not to mention the killer song by Blind Boys of Alabama. (I heard them play this very song at Columbia's first Roots 'n Blues Festival.)

I got out of my car to take some pictures of the processing plant. The processing produces an aroma that is not unpleasant. It's not the enticing fragrance of peppers roasting in New Mexico, but it has a homey, agrarian smell. Like barns and horses and earth.

Sugarcane plant, Jeanerette, Louisiana

Lafayette: The Yellow Flower in the Blue Jar

Second Saturday Artwalk, Lafayette, Louisiana

At Lafayette's January 2014 Second Saturday Artwalk, Astra Modern Market placed single yellow mums in blue mason jars atop white tables.

Second Saturday Artwalk, Lafayette, Louisiana

How could you not love them?

Second Saturday Artwalk, Lafayette, Louisiana

Especially in the middle of winter.

Second Saturday Artwalk, Lafayette, Louisiana

Astra Modern Market is in the space where a auto repair garage used to be.

Second Saturday Artwalk, Lafayette, Louisiana

The splashy yellow mums in blue jars were like little suns over water and white sand.

Second Saturday Artwalk, Lafayette, Louisiana

The Disappearing of Louisiana, Part 1: Stumbling on History

My intermittent series on "the disappearing of Louisiana" is about the effects of nature and man on Louisiana's land and waters. One source says that Louisiana loses 25 to 35 square miles of land a year, nearly a football field every hour. Where does the land go? It is sinking under water.  

I didn't know about the disappearing of Louisiana when I took my road trip here in the winter of 2011/2012. But by chance, I drove right through a mammoth, manmade complex designed to control the Mississippi River. And it plays a role in the land's disappearance.        

Below is an excerpt from a January 2012 post, when I stumbled on history: the Old River Control Complex:

Highway 15, Louisiana

I found myself driving along a levee, moving from Hwy 1 to Hwy 15. It's a damned good thing I gassed up in Morganza before I got onto 15. It was a l-o-n-g way between gas stations.  I drove aside a levee and a series of locks, dams and hydroelectric projects (or something) the entire way. The Old River Control Complex. Some interesting sites about same, most with cool pictures: 

Credit: USACE per Urban Decay

Credit: USACE

America's Achilles' heel: the Mississippi River's Old River Control Structure

Morganza Spillway/Floodway and Old River Control Structure

Where Does the Water Go? The Old River Control Structures, Louisiana 

I saw large white birds with black-tipped wings taking in the waters at the auxiliary structure. High fencing, barbed wire, big padlocks, and what looked like a thick electric-shock cable prevented me from getting a closer look. But I was able to use the office lavatory. Someone had written a sign inside the ladies' room: "If you can't clean up after yourself, then use the woods." Reminds me of a motel room in Memphis, Missouri, that had this sign in every bathroom: "Don't clean game in the sink."

Anyhoo, after an in-car lunch of hard-boiled eggs and a satsuma orange, I proceeded along my way.
  

I've got a lot of studying to do. 




Related posts

Disappearing Louisiana, Part 1: Stumbling on History
Disappearing Louisiana, Part 2: Water Words
Disappearing Louisiana, Part 3: Paradise Faded: The Fight for Louisiana
Disappearing Louisiana, Part 4: Revetments, Rip-rap, and Other Exotica
Disappearing Louisiana, Part 5: The Control of Nature: Atchafalaya

Lafayette Neighborhoods: College Park

College Park neighborhood, Lafayette, Louisiana

Lafayette has many pocket neighborhoods cached off of its main arteries. Quiet, shaded, established. Often with graceful live oaks, giant elephant ears, flowering shrubs. Pretty mixes of architecture.

College Park neighborhood, Lafayette, Louisiana

College Park Addition


The College Park Addition neighborhood is more or less comprised of the "president streets," at least as these streets are bordered in a square by: West Pinhook, Taft, St. Mary's Boulevard, and University Avenue. The president-street names within this square are Taft, Coolidge, Harding, Wilson, and Hoover. There's also McKinley, but that runs smack through the University of Louisiana campus, so I'm not counting that.

College Park neighborhood, Lafayette, Louisiana

I did include the two art museums that fall within the bounds. 

Hilliard Art Museum, College Park neighborhood, Lafayette, Louisiana

Here's a slide show:

Louisiana Movies: The Apostle

The Apostle. From: IMDb

Movie: The Apostle

Provenance: Filmed around St. Martinville, Louisiana, and a couple of other places.

Hm, I dunno. When I streamed it down from Netflix a couple of weeks ago, I realized about five minutes in that I'd already seen the movie, or at least part of it. Couldn't remember how it went. Which told me it must not have been that memorable. And, indeed, it became a little like homework to watch it.

There's no doubt Robert Duvall was the center of this drama; he dominated almost every scene. Almost every scene. The actor who played Rev. Charles Blackwell, John Beasely, quietly held his own, an understated counterweight against Mr. Duvall's manic, narcissistic persona. Farrah Fawcett, Billy Bob Thornton and Miranda Richardson were drawings barely colored in.

At the end of the day, I'm not sure how much Louisiana factored into the story. It seemed little more than a prop. 

Recommend? Shrug.





    

News for the Rootless: Follow-Up

Back here, I listed news organs that I had on trial to get me better informed.

The list included

The Guardian
American Prospect
The Economist
Mother Jones
Schneier on Security


I also continued to dabble with the online Atlantic. Also, The New York Times and Washington Post.

Plus after that post, I'd added these information sites to my audition list:

Pro Publica
Bitch Media
Reuters


No thanks!

Atlantic. I finally weaned myself off the Atlantic entirely. I cannot abide the tabloid titles that seem geared primarily to college students. Why X is not Y. .... What Everyone Needs to Know About Z.... The Dark Side of W ....... The Most Dangerous Thing About D .... 

I've shoved the Atlantic into the same file drawer as celebrity "news."


Mother Jones and American Prospect. Again, tabloid-ish titles. Also, there seem to be stables of writers who presume to be journalists, but who apparently operate under very loose standards of objectivity, fact-finding, or even understanding of their subject matter. Where's the editorial oversight? Plus it's generally all bad news all the time. I'm done with both of them.

I'm sad about this because occasionally the above offer jewels of informational reporting, such as Mother Jones' series on prisons.   

When I stumbled on to Pro Publica, I thought I'd found a little nugget of gold. The honeymoon was over when I read its series on acetominaphen. While I have sincere respect for those who have lost loved ones to the drug, the low numbers of such deaths or injuries, in both absolute and relative terms, pale against deaths due to other causes. I just couldn't understand the blitzkrieg of attention focused on this. I still don't, and it killed credibility for me.


The yes list

The Guardian and The Economist. A rich mix of the good and bad about our world; the serious, curious, and frivolous; served up with a minimum of emotional button-pushing. 

Reuters. Pro Public did lead me to this article on Reuters. So when my little fling with Pro Public ended, I went over to the calmer, more thoughtful Reuters. The headlines tell the story in less than 10 words, without hysteria. Shooting Heard at Airport in Congo's Capital. ... Reduced Fed Support Reflected in January Bond-Buying Plan. ... Major Chinese Art Collection Set For Oxford Museum. ...  It's a calm retreat from the carnival side show that is typical of online news.

With The Guardian, The Economist, and Reuters, I get what I want - information that:

• Covers a wide breadth of subjects, 
• Covers varying degrees of depth into different subjects,
• Is accurate, based on what we know now, 
• Is relatively objective, and
• Refrains from manipulating my emotions.

Credit: Schneier on Security

Schneier on Security. I like this niche news source on two levels.

1. I get more informed on the technical side of security issues, which feeds my geek within, even though a lot of the comments go over my head.
2. Mr. Schneier takes a look at security issues and incidents from various angles, explaining why some incidents or variables are cause for alarm, why others are of minor or moderate concern even when they look alarming, and why things that might look innocuous could have troubling implications. 

Bitch Media.  This news source is provocative in a good way - it presents information from fresh perspectives that make us think. Sometimes the perspective is enlightening and sometimes it provokes strong disagreement. "Bitch Media’s mission is to provide and encourage an engaged, thoughtful feminist response to mainstream media and popular culture."

For the most part, it succeeds in its mission. Like most nonprofits, it runs the risk of mission creep, which could bring it down over time, but for now, that isn't too noticeable.

 

Credit: Bitch Media

Louisiana: Palmetto Island State Park: Floating on the Bayou

Palmetto Island State Park, Louisiana

On the first Sunday of each month, there's a ranger-led canoe tip at Palmetto Island State Park. Free!

Palmetto Island State Park, Louisiana

Palmetto Island State Park, Louisiana

Lots of vultures about on the day we floated. It's not a good quality photo, but you can see a cluster of them in the tree below:

Palmetto Island State Park, Louisiana

I saw a lethargic snake on the bank, which the ranger identified as a yellow-bellied water snake. Can you see it in the picture below?

Palmetto Island State Park, Louisiana

I'll be writing more about this later - the disappearing of Louisiana - but I learned from the ranger that the people who do maps (USGS?) have begun to remove some location names from their current Louisiana maps because these locations no longer exist. They have eroded away.

Palmetto Island State Park, Louisiana

2013 Road Trip With Carol, Part 4: Lee State Park, South Carolina

Lee State Park, South Carolina

My mother, Carol, and I went on a road trip in October 2013 that took us through North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

Part 1 here and Part 2 here.  Part 3 here.

Lee State Park, South Carolina

Lee State Park - what a pretty place for a picnic lunch!

It's just off Interstate 20.

Lee State Park, South Carolina

Louisiana: The Crawfish Collection

In New Mexico, I collected pink houses.

There are pink houses in Louisiana, but they don't call to me like they do in New Mexico.

In Louisiana (well, let's go with south Louisiana), there is a demi-god. And he is Crawfish.

Crawfish, Bon Creole Lunch Counter, New Iberia, Louisiana

And he is grokked to the fullest here in Acadiana.

Let the new collection begin.

Morgan City, Part 1: Lake End Beauty

Lake End Park, Morgan City, Louisiana

Morgan City has a bit of a reputation problem from its days as a port with a lot of transient workers in pursuit of the usual sins on their time off. A character in the movie, Passion Fish, called it "the lowest pit of hell."

It really isn't so bad as all that. I spent a few hours there recently and I'll return for a closer look.

There is beauty, such as at Lake End Lake Park.

A lake study from the park. 

Lake Palourde, Lake End Park, Morgan City, Louisiana

Lake Palourde, Lake End Park, Morgan City, Louisiana

Lake Palourde, Lake End Park, Morgan City, Louisiana

2014 Travel Resolutions

Columbus, NM, and Las Palomas, Chihuahua, border.

Last year 

I did a round-up of some online travel resolutions for 2013 here.

The CNN (on choices), Chicago Tribune ("Don't Be A Jerk"), and Arthur Frommer's lists are still good today.

For 2014

Geoff Kohl's list, 8 Travel Resolutions for 2014, speaks to quality and personal expansion. I'm a proponent of local travel, both in attitude and in action, and so is he. His is a list almost anyone can implement regardless of disposable income or time.

..... and after some time searching for other worthy resolutions lists .... the above stands alone for this year.

Louisiana Movies: Passion Fish

Movie: Passion Fish

Provenance: Jennings, Louisiana - about 40 miles west of Lafayette.

Loved this movie!

It went off on a couple of tangents occasionally (like with the interminable monologue about the anal probe from May-Alice's former colleague - don't ask), but overall - good story, rich character portrayals, predictable but satisfying ending.

Good music. Where The Big Easy focused on cajun music, zydeco played a prominent role in Passion Fish.

My favorite lines

"Morgan City, the lowest pit of hell."

"[I'm] CHANtelle, who's got no time for Louisiana French-talkin' cowboys."

"You makin' this shit up, right?"

"I'm at the Ramada in Lafayette. Call me."


My favorite character

Sugar! Played by actor Vondie Curtis-Hall, he radiates seductive charm. He's like the John Travolta character as the Angel Michael, who can't help but attract women.


And this song!

Danse de Mardi Gras:

Song from Balfa Brothers. This song is also on the Beasts of the Southern Wild soundtrack.


Recommend? Yes! A solid popcorn movie!

Louisiana: Palmetto Island State Park: Pigs and Swamp

Palmetto Island State Park, Louisiana

Some of the Louisiana parks participated in the First Day Hike program, and Palmetto Island State Park was one of them.

Feral pigs at Palmetto Island State Park, Louisiana

A hiking companion and I, and her kiddos, were the only ones to do go on the park's First Day Hike. (It was a little rainy today.)

Feral pigs at Palmetto Island State Park, Louisiana

I saw my first feral pigs. Smaller than I expected, but these were the sows, their little 'uns, and adolescents. I guess the boars can get pretty large (100-400 pounds) with tusks. The boars are loner types. The sows and young ones form groups called "sounders."

Pleasant Road, which leads to the park from State Road 82, has a stretch of swamp that's very pretty.

Did you notice the pretty yellow flowers? In January!

Pleasant Road near Palmetto Island State Park, Louisiana

There's a guided canoe trip at the park on the first Sunday of every month. I signed up for the next one.

Palmetto Island State Park, Louisiana

Stuff: Frugality

I was doing my weekly load of laundry the other day, pulling items out of the dryer. When I pulled out a colorful bath towel, I observed it had a hole and a rip. As I folded the towel, I laughed because it reminded me of a family story:

My mother entered the kitchen and found two of her boys making oatmeal cookies. One of my brothers had promised to bring cookies to school for some celebration or another. Nothing amiss here.

Except they were both giggling while they spooned cookie batter onto the cookie sheets, so my mother knew something was up. Upon interrogation, she learned that they had used oatmeal recently brought home from the country cabin, which unbeknownst to her, but discovered by my brothers, had meal worms in it.

My brothers were ecstatic at the prospect of taking these protein-enriched cookies to the classroom for sharing!

My mother intervened and made some non-buggy oatmeal cookies for my brother to take to school. And my brothers ate the meal-worm cookies with gusto. Win-win.

So back to my hole-y towel.

Hole-y towel

I've got a few fabric items that are on their last legs. The towel, a winter nightgown, an ancient fleece jacket, and an over-large sweatshirt. This is the last winter for both the nightgown and the sweatshirt. The former is falling apart and the latter is stained. My Plan A is to relocate to the Middle East in 2015, so I'm counting on that tired jacket becoming obsolete.

It is pleasurable to look upon these items and know that come winter's end, I'll be recycling them into cleaning rags. And before I move next November, they'll be tossed.  Some day soon, probably on a whim, I'll cut up that towel for rags, but for now, I am reluctant to give up its color. It had already done someone service in a past life, then had been donated to Goodwill, where it was bought for my use.


I like frugality when it feels good in some way. If it doesn't feel good, then it's hardship. I've done both.

2013 Road Trip With Carol, Part 3: Popcorn Overlook, Near Clayton, Georgia

 

Popcorn Overlook. near Clayton, Georgia

My mother, Carol, and I went on a road trip in October that took us through North Carolina and Tennessee.

Part 1 here and Part 2 here. 

'twas somewhat early in the morning when we stopped, hence the picturesque mist.

Popcorn Overlook. near Clayton, Georgia

We pulled over for a look-see at the Popcorn Overlook. I like this excerpt from the website:

... educational signs are on-site for the intellectually curious.

That extra little bit about the "intellectually curious." Not for those who are so bored while their companions take photo after photo after photo that they are reduced to reading the educational (gag! educational!) signs, not for the casually curious, not for the illiterati who only like to look at pictures.

It makes me nostalgic for the person who wrote the pithy interpretive signs at the Cypress Swamp Trail on the Natchez Trace Parkway.

Popcorn Overlook. near Clayton, Georgia