All Eyes Out For You

Treme (Sundays, 9pm CDT on HBO)

Don't know if you've caught the new David Simon (The Wire) series on HBO, but Treme is an interesting look at the citizens of New Orleans who struggled during the months after Hurricane Katrina.  A huge part of the show focuses attention on the struggling local musicians who try to get back on their feet along with the city.

Patrick Jarenwattananon and Josh Jackson have had an ongoing post-show email exchange after each episode over at NPR, including the most recent Episode Three: Playing For That Money.  It's an interesting chat, and I've really been enjoying the show (though it's hard to tell where it's headed).

For reasons that are pretty obvious, this past week's episode reminded me of this short photo essay I shot during a 2008 trip to New Orleans.

BTW, Episode Two featured Allen Toussaint and Elvis Costello recreating the recording of River In Reverse, which was indeed partially recorded in New Orleans very shortly after Katrina.  Alas, it's totally unrealistic because producer Joe Henry is nowhere to be seen.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Annual Geek Alert

This is my traditional time of year for catching up on my geek passions, while waiting for the annual new music drought to end.  Xbox games received as gifts coupled with too much free time usually find me dorking out with some of the usual suspects...

• Battlestar Galactica webisodes
  Only about two more weeks before the final 10 episodes get rolling, but you can feed you frack with some five-minute shorts on the SciFi Channel's website.  Bonus geek points:  you can listen to the webisodes with commentary from Jane Espenson.  The first half of Season 4 will be released on DVD this week.

• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Xbox 360)
  I wasn't very impressed by the demo version of this game, but the real deal is pretty fun and happens to have one of the best storylines of any Star Wars product in recent memory.  Fans will be pleased to know the events in the game take place much closer to Ep. IV than Ep. III.  Bonus geek points:  you can download an extra chapter ($10) and two "character packs" ($5 each) that allow you to play the game as different geektastical Star Wars characters.

• Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season 8
  The ongoing revival of Buffy in Dark Horse Comics just completed it's coolest story arc yet, with the meeting of Buffy and future slayer Fray.  Fray is one of my all-time favorite graphic novels, and the return of Karl Moline for the arc was a real treat.

• The X-Files
  Received Seasons 1 & 2 on DVD as gifts.  Nice!

• Jeffrey Overstreet's Auralia's Colors and Cyndere's Midnight
  I'm on a mission to complete these first two installments of Overstreet's fantasy trilogy (with the third on the way in 2009).  I'm restarting Auralia, but his natural prose makes re-reading the first half a pleasure.  These books have been very positively reviewed, and I feel like a loser for not finishing them earlier.  Plenty more info over at Jeffrey's site.

I'm also embarking on a project this week to size down my DVD collection by ditching many of the amaray cases in favor of CD/DVD storage binders.  Not every last title (gotta keep those Criterions), but I'm on a 2009 mission to free up shelf space.  CD jewel boxes, you're next!