Joe Ranft, R.I.P.

Joe Ranft, of Pixar, died at the age of 45 on August 16, 2005, in a car accident. I didn't know Joe, but as an animation fan in general, and a Pixar fan in particular, this is horribly sad news.

I keep away from the news, in general, so I didn't find out until just minutes ago. I feel for his friends and family, and know that Pixar will have a hard time living up to his legacy. He was the head of story on several films, which for Pixar, is just about the most important position there is. His work includes other films like Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and The Nightmare Before Christmas.

BoingBoing.net has a page in memorium, which links to a Hollywood Reporter page on the accident and Ronnie Del Carmen has an entry in his blog.

Rest in peace, Joe, and thanks for all the good work you did for us fans.

Is there any winner, here?

So Hurricane Katrina comes in, and wipes out lives, property, and most likely, some politicians. It's not surprising: in Chicago, we once fired a mayor that messed up because of SNOW for heaven's sake.

I'm not a fan of the Bush administration, so I'd love to pile on. But I haven't seen anything that tells me any level of government handled this well. There's the "Everything Fine, Nothing to See Here" angle from FEMA, looking like an out of touch parent of a drug-using, sexually active teen who just knows his kids are as untouched as the ones on "Leave it to Beaver." The cluelessness there is the most vicerally inexcusable right when you're looking at news of people in desperate need of help. Then there's the mayor of New Orleans screaming at everyone to get more help in, when getting everyone OUT seems to have been his job. And what exactly IS going on with the LA governor?

And that's just NO. It wasn't the only place wiped out.

A fair number of folks are showing no sympathy, saying that no one should ever have lived in NO in the first place, as it's too dangerous. I suspect they're the ones who want us to all live in deep salt mines, because every major city in this country has had something hideous happen to it in the not too distant past. Or do you not recall 1995 when Chicago had 739 dead from the heat?

I hope the various investigations, and it looks like there will be many, come to mostly the same conclusions and that the whole experience scares the country into being better prepared for such a disaster (or the local equivalent)... but why should I be an optimist? You'd have thought 9/11 would have spouted that kind of concern, and it did, but where's the evidence that any of the planning or preparation for diaster recovery was successful in NO? Or even that it was used: if as a few places have reported, there WERE adequate plans created, then after the heads roll how do you make sure that next time the freakin' plans are actually used?

It's all disheartening. Donating to a few causes helps make me feel better about being otherwise useless but it still seems hollow. Of course, the mercenary side of me says "offer space to a chef! Offer space to a chef!" but those tend to be pretty big people, and my place barely contains MY girth. Yes, making light of the situation is one way I deal with it, why?