Day: November 23, 2012

Superstorm

~ susie ~ 3 Comments

A lot of people tried to warn us. Here’s another one:

PHILADELPHIA — In the documentary “Shored Up,” scientists warn that with a rising sea level, a major storm could put New Jersey’s barrier islands underwater and create devastating storm surges. In other words, what happened last month when Superstorm Sandy slammed into New Jersey and New York.


For Ben Kalina, the Philadelphia filmmaker who was nearly finished putting together the documentary when the storm hit, it meant that the ideas in the film that may have sounded far-fetched – or at least, discussions of something that may happen sometime in the future – were suddenly immediate.


“Until Sandy, we were making a film about something much more meditative, really,” Kalina said. “And now the stakes are suddenly much more real.”

Not a good sign

~ susie ~ 6 Comments

UPDATE: Looks like all they did was displace crowds to the middle of the night.

So I slept right through my alarm this morning and did not get over to the Black Friday protest at my local Walmart. I rode over when I woke up, but there were no signs of a protest (although I understand they’re planning in-store actions, too). The parking lot wasn’t anywhere near as full as you’d expect, and I thought, “Good, people are observing the strike.”

But as I rode around, I noticed business was light everywhere: the parking lots at Lowe’s, the Home Deport, Kmart, even (gasp!) Target weren’t anywhere near as crowded as usual.

Now, I have nothing to compare. This is the first time I have even left the house on Black Friday, so I don’t know what’s “normal.” But it sure looks to me that people aren’t very interested in shopping this year — and that doesn’t bode well for the economy.

How about you guys? Anyone venture out this morning?