Same-Sex Marriage Bill REJECTED in New York State Senate
UPDATE: City To Remove 14 Blocks Of Bike Lanes On Bedford Ave.
Hamster Rides The 4 Train
Bouncer Beatdown at Jay-Z's 40/40 Club
Obama's Afghanistan Plans: 30,000 More Troops, Withdraw By July 2011
A couple weeks ago, an episode of Penn & Teller's Bullsh*t! centered around the many fights at Ground Zero. The show criticized the slowness of bureaucracy (hello, PatakI) and the designs selected for Ground Zero, including the memorial. The show also filmed one of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's Family Rooms, where victims' families members can "observe the site in quiet contemplation." Well, this upset other victims' families who have besieged the LMDC with complaints. A firefighter's father wrote, "I am outraged that this sacred Family Room was violated in so despicable a manner and would like you to send my utter disgust to whoever was responsible." (It seems as though Anthony Gardiner of the WTC Family Advisory Council let them in.) Another family member who is on the LMDC added, "In addition to violating the protocols of no media in the Room, this incident was even more troubling because the name of this program is Showtime's Penn and Teller 'Bull----.'" Aside from any agreements that the Family Room would remain private and away from cameras, Gothamist wonders if the family members actually saw the show, because the show seemed to support many of the family members' claims (the designs are terrible, the process sucks, how are we going to remember loved ones, etc.).
And at Cannes, Oliver Stone showed 26 minutes of World Trade Center (Variety, subscription required, said the reaction was "cautiously positive"). Did anyone see the trailer for it before seeing The DaVinci Code? We had some good debate on the merits of the trailer last week.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
I am curious...someone enlighten me please. If the WTC "demolition," by terrorist, was such a horrific event...., why is it that the Federal Government has not offered to fund and install a monument in a portion of ground zero for those that parished there. Is it because congressmen have not asked for it, or is it because the event and loss is not as hudge to the public as it was initially. The federal monument, it seems would eleviate Mr. Silverstein's having to build a structure to satisfy the victims' relatives. Then Mr. Silvertstien could take full control back and make his own decisions without the Port Authority, govenor, mayor and the relatives putting in their two cents. This also would eleveate some of the financial problems.
i saw the trailer. wish i hadn't. no desire to see the movie and nicholas cage's NY accent SUCKED.
I agree; did the rebel rousers watch the program? If anything, they supported the family's arguments.
I swear one can make a decent living as a professional rouser. You don't need supportive documentation. You don't even need a cause.
I saw the trailer. The audience was silent and not in a referential way.
I have no desire to see this film. I lived through it. There is no need for a re-enactment. The emotions are still fresh.
I don't know if there is an official policy but it seems most memorials and monuments are privately funded or at least largely private. I seem to recall reading that the Washington and Lincoln memorials in DC were privately funded. Tom Hanks and Co. stumped for the WW II Memorial. The Statue of Liberty refurbishment in the 80s was largely private.
Number of years since the victims' families should have shut the fuck up: 4.
Amount of say they should have in anything built at Ground Zero that they're not paying for themselves: 0%.
Odds that whatever is built at the site will be an insult to somebody, somewhere: 1/1.
Odds that whatever is built at the site will be an insult to architecture: 1/1.
Extra right granted to the families of the WTC victims: the right to grieve publicly.
Extra rights not granted to the families of the WTC victims: everything else.
As one of the so-called "victims' families" I can offer you my personal feeling, and that is no matter if the P&T show was pro or con the issue is over the family room @ the WTC site. And that room was set-up for our use as a space that would be private and also community building. It is a place to go to be at the site without being bombarded with camera toting tourists or people selling pictures (and years ago it was one of the only places to go to actually see the mess there.) It is a place to interact with other family members and to share feelings, offer support, leave pictures and mementos. I would think that those other family members who are upset with the P+T show are not at all upset with the show, but with whomever allowed access to that room for filming.
But now to address Mr. Barrett:
Number of years since the victims' families should have shut the fuck up: 4.
Now, I believe that Mr. Barrett is trying to be cool and go for some shock value -fine, have a blast! But, please try to "shut the fuck up" when you are notified by the morgue on 6 seperate occasions (years apart) that they have identified your loved ones collar bone, or they found a fragment of their heart on a rooftop--or when you are never notified...your loved one simply vanished. or when your brother is found 50 feet below the street; their body compacted like a car, or bulk trash. Sorry, I'll shut the fuck up now.
Extra right granted to the families of the WTC victims: the right to grieve publicly.
The right to grieve publicly?!? Believe me, that is not a right, but a hinderance. Nobody wants to be public with their grief, and to have no choice but to be watched has only made the process more challenging. That is an "extra right" that I would have gladly refused if I actually had a choice.