Compucast

This is the perfect weekend for New Orleans, in New Orleans. Why do I say that? It’s for two reasons: the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras.

Yes, I know the Super Bowl is being played in Miami, Florida - and there’s sure to be some major festivities there - but New Orleans will be just as (if not more!) festive. In short: people are going to be partying like crazy here.

I know a few native New Orleanians who now live outside of New Orleans and are flying into town for the weekend. The Who Dat Nation is a proud and devoted group of fans, and making the journey to Saints Mecca is just something they do.

But if there’s not going to be enough excitement with the Saints’ biggest game ever, there are parades! Mardi Gras is happening right now in New Orleans and will continue until the 16th. All the previously-scheduled-on-Sunday parades have been moved to Saturday, and there are a number of parades rolling tonight (Friday) as well.

Oh yeah. One more thing: the mayoral election is happening on Saturday as well. That doesn’t add to it being a “perfect weekend in New Orleans” exactly, but it does remind us that Ray Nagin will be outta here soon enough. :)

It’s been a while since I’ve seen the movie JFK but I recently re-watched it. It holds up quite well since it was made - a timespan of roughly two decades!

You have to take the movie with a few grains of salt, of course: the historic events are liberally mixed up with a lot of events that “could” have happened (or could not have happened, but so what?). Oliver Stone took a great deal of artistic license. That’s ok - because he made a great movie, regardless of whether or not it solves the mystery of “Who Shot JFK?”.

There’s a lot to be enjoyed in the film, especially if you love New Orleans. Quite a few scenes feature New Orleans locations for the filming. Back when this movie came out, that was somewhat of a novelty for me - to see my city in a major motion picture. Lately, there have been a great many other films shot here. But in ‘91, it wasn’t so common.

I happen to love the style in this movie, as well. The cars, the dress, and the furniture are all a pleasure to see. Also, Kevin Costner (playing Jim Garrison) wears some really great Shuron (Shuron Ronsir Zyl, to be exact) eyeglasses throughout the movie.

While JFK isn’t my absolute favorite “New Orleans movie”, it’s a movie I’ve enjoyed watching more than once over the years and it deserves to be appreciated not only on the level of great storytelling (and acting), but it should also be appreciated as a movie that stars the city of New Orleans.

I was happy to see our Saints win, finally. And by that, I mean win a championship and win a spot in the Superbowl. When the victory happened it sounded like New Year’s Eve outside - fireworks were going off everywhere. People were overjoyed.

And that’s a great thing. It’s great for the team, but in a way it’s actually great for the city: it shows us that we can accomplish just as much as any other city.

There was a time when all babies in New Orleans were born with brown paper bags over their heads because the Saints were so awful. We called the the “Aints”, and expected to do badly each season. Now, I think we’re going to have more optimism and confidence - and higher expectations.

In terms of the “city”, I hope those feelings spill over into our everyday lives. What if (as a city) we had those feelings about possibilities in the local economy, technology, education, and the other number of spheres that will shape our city for years to come? Well, we’d go further in prosperity and quality of life.

And while it might seem like I’m stretching a simple football victory into something it can’t be (i.e. the very definition of quality of life in N.O.) I don’t think it’s much of a stretch: every event influences everything it touches.

So we might not see a huge change in life, just because we have a winning team. But I’d like to believe that things improve for everyone, just a little bit, across the board.

I recently found this helpful fried chicken recommendation, and have to add some of my own observations to it. Why? Because I now see myself as a possible Fried Chicken Authority. Someone close to me recently accused me of “eating nothing but fried chicken”. Not true, but it was coincidental that each of the three times I saw her that week I was eating chicken. (Not my usual habit, I assure you.)

joezors:

There are two restaurants that specialize in fried chicken within a block of each other:  Willie Mae’s Scotch House and Dooky Chase’s Restaurant.

Both are great, but an extra special treat at Dooky’s is Dooky himself:  the namesake that still has a boatload of energy and is more than willing to share a story or two and wish you well.

As for the taste, both had great chicken, but we preferred the skin with the touch of buttermilk at Dooky’s, but we may have been influenced by the cool experience.

Be forewarned:  both restaurants have rather odd, short hours, so be sure to either look it up or call ahead to make sure they’re open.

Now for my opinion: he is correct about Willie Mae’s and of course Dooky Chase. But for the more common chicken desires I have to recommend Scooter’s Fried Chicken. It’s a new New Orleans chicken place and is of the fast-food variety, but it’s excellent. And you will not find better cole slaw anywhere.

Additionally, the young man who took my order did a dance routine from Thriller while I waited for my order. (Long story, but an interesting occurrence.) I guess he was bored and likes to dance…and I was impressed. What was even cooler about it was that the owner was there while he did it. (It was the Westbank Expressway location in Gretna, if anyone’s interested.)

The second New Orleans restaurant I must recommend is Jacques-Imo’s on Oak Street in New Orleans. I love that place to begin with for all sorts of other reasons, but you cannot order anything there that isn’t sublime - including the fried chicken.

The Real World is coming back to New Orleans. So, they’re calling it The Real World: Back to New Orleans which I find very appropriate. The last time MTV filmed the Real World here was back in 2000. This is gonna be the 24th season of The Real World, and I find that to be pretty amazing: it’s really been around for that long??

I’m (of course) very excited about Mardi Gras this year, but there’s a whole lot more fun coming up in New Orleans. Mardi Gras lasts until Febrary 16th, but there are other celebrations that will follow. Just to mention a few, there’s the French Quarter Wine Festival, the French Quarter Festival, of course there’s JazzFest (which I always love), and one of my favorite days which is St. Patrick’s Day.

And the ones I mentioned are just within the first few months of the year! That’s one of the great things about living here - New Orleans is a city that constantly has something to celebrate, so there’s always something going on.

These celebrations and other New Orleans upcoming events are what makes life in New Orleans so interesting and what makes other people love our culture.

Well, sort of. Mardi Gras 2010 began last night, officially.The Phunny Phorty Phellows kicked off the Carnival season (last night was “12th Night”), so the parades are not far off.

I think we’re in for a good Mardi Gras this year. Now, I need to go buy a king cake…