“Swamp People” (Season 2, Episode 2: “Hunter or Hunted?” History)

Life’s a little different on the bayou. The Atchafalaya River Basin spans over a millions acres in southern Louisiana. This swamp is the largest and most diverse swamp in the United States. These wetlands are home to a huge wildlife community including the good old American alligator. Thursday nights at nine on the History Channel, “Swamp People” follows a handful of colorful gator hunters down in Louisiana during their 30 day gator hunting season. The passion for their trade runs deep like their Cajun culture. These hunters are paid daily for their catches. Each gator is measured and purchased according to size. This shows success rides on that passion for the hunt and the unique Cajun culture and lifestyle so foreign to anyone outside of it.  A young wiry blonde sporting one front tooth remarks at the beginning of Episode 2: “Hunter or Hunted?”, “If you think you can come out here and do it... good luck to ya.”

In the second episode of season two, we are introduced to R.J. Molinere Jr. and his son Jay Paul. R.J. holds two word championship titles in arm wrestling and claims he is the best alligator hunter in the world. In this episode they set off to find “Dozer” a big gator tearing up the banks of the swamp. After five years of tracking Dozer, Jay Paul delivers a rifle shot to the quarter inch kill spot on its skull. He measures in at 12 feet weighing 850 pounds. The reenactments of the catches and kills are corny as hell. The rifle is points down directly at the camera when Jay Paul pulls the trigger only to be followed by a perfect splash of swamp water from the thrashing beast. The corniness does not take away from the humorous dialogue or the one-on-one gator interactions.

The hunters are given certain plots in the swamp for them to hunt on. Troy and Jacob Landry are in a new location known as “Big Pigeon” hoping to find some big gators. This episode they spend most of their time on the water tracking down intruders messing with their lines. It turns out Junior and William “Willy” Edwards are to blame. After an anti-climatic confrontation the two agree it was a just misunderstanding. Junior said it best, “ We can work it out, I mean we aint no butt-holes about it.” Troy decides to pack up and move to a different location and let Junior and Willy stay. 

Terrel Evans is probably the most bad-ass hunter on the show catching his gators by hand. He is a mammoth man clocking in at 6’4’’ weighing 240 pounds. He’s teamed up with the Mississippi Fisheries and Wildlife to tag and track the American alligators. He sets out this week to find a cannibal gator causing all kinds of trouble in the swamp and relocate it to a safer location. While watching Terrel catch this 700 pound gator you’re convinced someones going to lose a limb. 

Episode 2: “Hunter or Hunted?” introduced another set of talented hunters while further developing the story and struggles of the other hunters. In one hour “Swamp People” successfully takes you inside an intensely entertaining trade of Cajun culture. To find the dialogue and unique dialect of these hunters you would have to meet them out in the swamps. 

Agora (Magdalena Abakanowicz)

Organic form met cold steel on the south end of Michigan Avenue in 2006. 106 pairs of legs each standing nine feet tall are frozen mid-stride missing everything from the belt up. Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz is responsible for the permanent public art piece titled “Agora.” Abakanowicz spent two years casting the figures in Poland before they made their way to Chicago.

          

The collection of 106 separate sculptures are scattered across a cement slab. The size of each piece is incredible. Under closer examination you notice the interesting texture. The surface of each sculpture is rippled and manipulated. Each surface different from the next. The legs are somewhat realistic with five individual toes and believable proportions. Abakanowicz poured a part of herself into each mold.

         

“Agora” is more than a visual sculpture; its massive size creates an interaction with the viewer. You can physically walk through the piece in the company of these giant iron legs. Abakanowicz use of materials, scale, and location play a vital role in the sculptures success.

            

The separate pieces are united by the repetition of seemingly identical lower halves, when in fact each set of legs is completely unique in itself. Although similar in shape there were 106 different molds created for 106 different pairs of legs. Each mold gave way to subtle wrinkles and freckles isolating one from another. The steel is a dark burnt-umber rusted with the texture of bark. Instead of a hard man-made surface the steel appears natural and organic. Steel is solid and immovable while our legs are constantly in motion. Abakanowicz utilized the material fusing two dramatically different subjects into one cohesive sculpture. The repetition of legs echoes through the crowd uniting each unique piece as whole.

            

When walking though “Agora” your eyes wander from leg to leg in all directions. The towering legs are anything but submissive. You become the minority amongst the crowd of figures. Instead of viewing the sculpture, you’re now the one being viewed. Your space is utterly invaded. It’s this overwhelming sense that for a moment you are part of something. A concrete slab covered in steel doesn’t always move you like that.

            

A mysterious group of sculptures stand tall in the southwest corner of Grant Park at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Roosevelt Road. This corner is a perfect location for a large installation with its heavy traffic. With all the movement in the park and on the streets “Agora” too seems to be moving. Abakanowicz’s work speaks of dignity and courage, a reflection of herself. Her fusion of the organic and non-organic mix perfectly into a complicated visual and physical interaction.

“Almost Famous” (Cameron Crowe 2000)

“Almost Famous” is an 18 year olds dream come true - to travel the country with a kick-ass rock-and-roll band - with more drugs, booze, and sex than you can imagine - meeting a few incredible souls that will shape your future along the way. Now tell that same epic experience through the passionate wide eyes of a 15 year-old outcast looking for nothing more than a great story on a some band. Cameron Crowe wrote and directed this film to tell his story as a new critic to rock and roll. He gives a true and honest insight into the struggles all great rock critics must go through.

       

“Almost Famous” revolves around William Miller (Patrick Fugit) who gets a taste of the real world at a young age of 15 when he is offered to right a story for Rolling Stone magazine. His role is similar to that of Cameron Crowe and the story itself mirrors many true events Crowe experienced. Frances McDormand plays Williams over-protective mother Elaine, a school professor ironically struggling to teach her oldest daughter Anita (Zooey Deschanel) how to live a fulfilling life while maintaining some morals. In 1973 William enters high school a quiet outcast secretly writing for underground newspapers. He seeks out Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who at the time was a huge deal in the rock critic world. A fifteen year-old needs some explaining and incite, even comfort while experiencing a road tour and all its baggage. This is where Lester Bangs comes in. His professional knowledge and advice flows deep through the movie almost poetic at times. He reassures William after the tour, “The only true currency in this bankrupt world... is what you share with someone else when your’e uncool.”

            

Along the way William meets both Penny Lane (Kate Hudson), her not-so-groupie “Band-Aides” (they are clearly all about the music) and the band Stillwater. Its two front men, Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup) on guitar and Jeff Bebe (Jason Lee) on lead vocals. As quickly as William learns how manipulated people can be, he learns how easily manipulated a critics work can be. Making friends with the band, falling in love with the lead guitarists girl (not wife), getting laid, getting the cover story, seeing the shit you shouldn’t have seen, all contribute to the complications of a critics work.

           

In “Almost Famous” Crowe managed to portray the difficulties William faced in a way that left the audience feeling sympathetic. Not only for William and his broken heart but for the situation. The situation, that with a stretch, every critic goes through. The push and pull of what to say and what not to. The factors involved can be endless but they are what make a story. Lester Bangs told William at the beginning and the end of the film, “Be honest, and unmerciful”. Crowe obviously took a lot from those two words. He understood great writing isn’t always riding on a destined-to-crash airplane/confessional with the hottest rock band of the time, but sometimes it is. Sometimes great writing hurts it’s so true.