• The absolute best source of on-the-spot reporting is coming from the Twitter search keyword #LAFIRE, because people in the LA area are tech-savvy enough to Twitter as they watch the fires moving toward and away from them. More specific keywords that are being used are #sylmar, #ocfire and #sbfire.
• NBC4 is streaming live coverage of the fires. So is ABC7.
• Crisis Wire has individual portals for the Tea Fire, the Yorba Linda fires and the Sylmar Fires. The pages include a special Google Maps hack that shows where the evacuation zones, fire reports, and evacuation centers are shown, as well as a UStream livestream of community access information and a related chat.
• The LA County Fire Department has another nice combination of information and maps. So does the Orange County Fire Authority. The LAFD is also on Twitter.
• CBS2.com has something that’s actually sorely needed as a continuing source of info in an area with many fires — a permanent section devoted to wildfires called Firewatch. Thus, folks who are looking for info in a hurry have a URL that they remember year-round.
• The Los Angeles Times isn’t doing the kind of comprehensive coverage that I remember from the Malibu and San Diego Fires a year ago (then they had a Twitter feed devoted to fire updates — one of the first traditional media uses of Twitter for breaing news), and their link for live video from KTLA was broken as of 9:30 p.m. CST. But their photos are amazing. They also have a resource page with several links to things like freeway closures and weather forecasts.
• A blog called California Fire News that has all sorts of information about the fire and evacuation information.
• Craigslist has a bulletin board devoted to the fires, and a really great list of links for fire victims, including charities offering help and next-of-kin registries.
• CNN.com has a lot of first-person accounts of people affected by the fires on their i-Report page.
• As always, there’s a ton of news sources available on Google News.

I’ll try to keep this updated as more sources become available. Feel free to leave links that have been helpful to you in the comments.

But I’ve been a bit busy the last few weeks, which is to be expected for anyone who works in a newsroom right now. And since I last posted, something huge and exciting happened that I never expected to see in my lifetime, much less this year. There seemed to be so many insurmountable obstacles in its path, but in the end, fantasy became reality.

I am, of course, talking about the Titans, who are now 8-0.

Okay, yes, I am very well aware that America, for once, did the right thing and made the world giddy in the process. Anyone who has known me for awhile knows my political background and can guess that I joined countless Democrats in crying when Obama was announced as President-Elect.

But I have honestly spent more time since that moment feeling like I have somehow missed the party. I’m relieved, but I’m also worried and more than a touch cynical. Obama is an incredible man, and I believe that if he leads half as well as he campaigns, he will be counted on the same level as FDR. He has the motivational talents as well as the intelligence to get things done, as well as at least two years of a Congress that’s willing to work with him.

But I also know that the leaders who have been on-course for similar accomplishments have ended up losing parts of their legitimacy by not keeping their pants on. I don’t think that when Obama’s faults become evident down the road, adultery will be one of them. But I also believed the same thing about John Edwards six months ago, and I was made into a fool and a liar on that one.

So at this point my hope that all of the people who managed to break all of the rules and conventional wisdom of previous years by being a part of a minority group or a young person doesn’t mean they won’t end up waiting in line for hours to vote aren’t left feeling cheated in the end. In the end we all get the country that we deserve, and we need to learn how to distinguish believing in a candidate and feeling a bit of hero worship.

Most of all, we need to learn how to talk to each other about differing opinions and beliefs without shouting or giving up on each other. As my cousin said this week in one of the best political blog posts I’ve ever read, we have survived as a nation through a civil war and two world wars and depressions and heartache galore. There is such a thing as meeting in the middle and it’s not as far away as it seems.

That said, another reason I’ve had trouble being joyful after the election is because I have openly opposed Proposition 8, and it passing has seriously harshed my happy. My motivation for speaking out about it is not personal — even if I still lived in California, I wouldn’t be taking advantage of it. But I feel very strongly that the government’s role is not to legislate morality, and if we offer legal and financial advantages to a man and a woman who commit to each other, we shouldn’t deny the same privileges to gay and lesbian couples.

It’s terribly sad to me that on the same day we proved that we have moved beyond the Jim Crow era of American history, we haven’t seem to have learned all of the lessons we need to about loving and accepting each other, no matter what label society has put on us. And it’s also troubling to me as a baptized Catholic with extended family who are practicing Mormons, because my adopted Mother Church has joined with the faith of my cousins to take such a strong stance (financially, especially) against the idea of celebrating committed and often monogamous relationships.

(Note: I respect the right of folks to disagree with me, but please don’t bother to flame me for what I say if whatever you’ve got to say starts with “The Bible says…” That is not a valid argument for me, and I’m not going to get into a Scriptural debate. There are other places to do that.)

My own little form of protest to the idea that gay couples are something to be feared, not accepted, is to post the following “Torchwood” Jack/Ianto fanvid, which is set to Take That’s “Rule The World”. I’m not sure which is scarier — that I’m protesting with a fanvid or that I’ve grown to like this song.

Seeing a bit of Kylie’s doc about this tour, Bono basically spent 15 minutes before that song desperately trying to channel Robbie Williams. Not quite there for me. I know no one will agree with me. But you have to see Rob’s version years before to see remotely what I mean. It also helped me figure out why every single guy I know that’s ever admitted to listening to Kylie (approximately four) has a full-on lustful crush on her, including the gay ones. The naughtiness starts about two minutes in.

And because the respect goes both ways, here’s Rob’s cover of “One”. There’s no way he could touch the original, but boy he gives it a try. And somehow it seems very appropriate right now.

I just realized that except for a couple of his videos, all of the stuff I really like about Rob is in his live stuff. I think that’s why “Rudebox” wasn’t as huge — the only performance I’ve seen from that was very low-energy from the audience.

Tennant obviously prepared for his West End run this winter with some of the dark stuff he did in the last series, and the guy I previously knew as the singing detective on “Blackpool” (BBC America really should rerun that show before the Christmas special) will now probably assume Hugh Grant’s part in a million Hollywood/Brit dramedies. As long as he doesn’t pull a Gillian Anderson and get snooty about things, I’m happy for him. Sad but happy.

But now that I’ve moved past that, some other stuff that’s actually positive:

- I am hoping that now that the BBC doesn’t have to carve out some moolah for Tennant’s huge pay raise, this will actually benefit “Torchwood”. The stated reason that we’re only getting a five-part series next year was because they needed to conserve costs. Well, if the rumours were true about what the Beeb was willing to shell out for him to stay were true, they now have paid for at least one or two more eps for the show. And surely they would not be so insane as to switch executive producers and lead actors for one show and also cancel its very-popular-international spinoff, would they?

- And no, the BBC will not be looking for a massive star for Tennant’s replacement. See above for budget concerns. The only reason they were willing to pay Tennant as much as they did is because he inspires reactions like what happened in Britain when Robbie Williams left Take That. It was enough to create this reaction from my favourite YouTube fancast, done by this lovely English teenager named Rosianna who was practically crying at the end.

If you’re American, that’s the equivalent to, well, it’s hard to find an equivalent. We’re kind of disposable about our celebrities. Okay, if Jennifer Aniston had left “Friends” after Season 4, without her and Ross ever getting back together, that might be close. Except it’s hard to find many people anymore who will freely admit that they still love that show. Hmmmm.

- My friend Lissa has previously stated her desire to see the BBC seriously consider Dylan Moran for the part. Personally, I love the idea. This would be the part that would let Moran pull a Catherine Tate and make people seriously respect him in a Hugh Laurie way, if that makes sense to anyone but me.

One of my favorite Bernard scenes in “Black Books”, where you might be able to squint and see the potential:

My two other examples are not on YouTube yet. Which is a crying shame. One is at the end of the first series and another is at the end of the last series, and involve fights with Fran. Later I might have to consider quasi-copyright violation to better illustrate this for my readers, who I hope will spread the Moran-love to the Whoverse, to give them a reason to say more than, “Wasn’t he the creepy guy in ‘Notting Hill’?”

And in related news, I have now discovered that people have made “Black Books” fanvids. Like this one:

This is a bad development, because from here I’ll find out that “Green Wing” and “Spaced” have fanvids, and I will never get anything productive done again. YouTube is an evil addictive place, and I’m busy enough just keeping up with Jack/Ianto fanvids.

- I really hope Capt. Jack is around in the regeneration episode when it comes, because it would suck to have none of the Children of Time apprised as to his new look. I mean, he obviously knew who Tennant’s Doctor was after only knowing Eccleston’s, but since the Doctor is kinda lax on what he tells his Companions before they need to know it, someone needs to be able to tell Martha, the rest of Torchwood, etc. what the deal is. And frankly I like seeing angsty-Jack quietly grieving. It’s the best of his four personalities.

But if they try to bring back the whole gang for the regeneration, I would personally be disappointed. I think that the fourth-season finale was basically the “Hey, the gang’s all here!” for the modern Doctor’s friends, and any attempt to prettify it by sending him off with Rose AGAIN would be really trite in comparison. I think that at this moment, the Doctor has resolved the majority of his modern-day human issues. Not that he won’t have more in the upcoming specials, but he’s really and truly done with Rose in this body. Hey, he’ll see her again in the next one, I’m sure.

- One exception — if CTs really going to come back, please let Donna be back next year. Just once. Even if it’s at the end and she doesn’t know him but he at least sees her and knows she’s had a great life, we need to see her.

And if I wanted to tie my brain into a bow tonight, I could take liberties and figure out how the Doctor-Donna could be written into the regeneration story in the end, with him once again sacrificing his body to save his Companion’s mind. But I’ll spare y’all.

- Can I just say that it’s great to have something like this, as rotten as I do feel about Tennant leaving, to distract me from politics for a little while? I’m going to be a much happier person in a week, when I hopefully will return my brainspace from the current goings-on to such seemingly trivial matters as the fact that THE TITANS ARE 7-0! Which I haven’t missed, I promise you. I will blog about the Titans again, dammit!

To Palin, that means people in smaller places in red states who still adore her are more pro-American because they are the hard-working, beer drinking Americans who support her team and thus deserve success more than those who they believe have had it easier. In Kornheiser’s case, folks in big cities are hard-working, beer drinking Americans who support her team and thus deserve success more than those who they believe have had it easier.

It’s kinda hilarious that both of the states that were the subject of Palin and Kornie’s reactions were Southern, where stereotypes were largely defined by the words they said. I daresay that Kornie’s never been anywhere beyond Lower Broad and the Opryland Hotel and has no idea that we have new-fangled HDTVs and manage to pay for those high-priced PSL’s to get season tickets by working just as hard as those guys in the “storied franchises” (in general, their stories seem to end after one Super Bowl these days, or when one star jumps ship), and I also figure that Sarah Palin’s never been anywhere near Research Triangle Park to gauge the pro-American-ness of it’s very international residential base.

All I have to say is that despite what anyone says (and believe me, they have) I am as American as they come. I am American by the sheer luck of being born here, but I’ve paid my taxes, obeyed the law, and worked hard and someday wish for the capitalist dream like I wish on stars, with a dwindling belief in the dividends. My parents, by even Palin’s and McCain’s standards, are the ultimate Americans — church-going, retired after working decent working-class jobs and building their own cattle farm, Dad being a Air Force vet, and raising their kids with great values (although I think they would’ve done the same without the church-going part, I also know I learned a lot that helped me get through life with hope, which is not something that’s easy to come by some days.) I would go through the list of my family and their stellar qualifications, including one who was Special Ops in Vietnam and being the living personification of Hank Jr.’s “Country Folks Can Survive”.

But somehow we’re not good enough to be true Americans because almost all of us are openly and passionately supporting Obama (for the record, because of my job I cannot actively participate in endorsing or other political activity, but I’ve campaigned for Democratic candidates since the age of 3, so you know where I come from.) My mother and her siblings delight in listening to Air America together (I knew Rachel Maddow would be a star after she took over the spot next to Randi Rhodes on AM. Even if you hate liberals, she’s more likable and funnier than Keith Olbermann in a walk.)

We also love football too. Going to Friday night football here is close to being as much of a religious requirement as Wednesday night church, which was mandatory for me and most of my classmates. If you’ve ever driven across Tennessee on a Saturday, there’s more orange around than in the fall foilage. Any group of people who willingly wear that color orange, when it looks good on absolutely no one, has something to be proud of.

But for some reason, the Nashville Titans are an anomaly or, worse, more equality for teams in smaller NFL markets than traditional powerhouses like New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. It took him half a game to realize how great and loud the crowd is, and they’re that way at every game. Even when we were losing, LP Field is packed and hundreds, if not thousands, more crowded into the Lower Broad and Second Avenue bars, watering holes all over the city and suburbs, and crowding around the TV in the sitting room like the residents at my Granny’s nursing home did last weekend.

We’re proper fans no matter where you live. Unless you’re Hank Jr., who appeared to be wearing a Redskins jersey at McCain events but then wore a Titans one tonight, your main goal is to suport the team you’ve followed since some special childhood memory, or even later in life when a friend or classmate or signifgant other exposed them to so much of one team that they converted, in a sense much like Catholic or a Mormon conversion. You love the team, you sometimes wear weird or unflattering clothes for the team. You figure out how to watch the game under any circumstance, and if you’re a brave fan you call into radio shows to talk about it (or you are the super-fan who gets the chance to do either the game or discussion as part of their job, which sounds just as perfect as PJ working as a reporter for the Cubs on “My Boys”.) In short, you care.

And in many ways, that caring is part of what we’re about as Americans. Not necessarily that the trait is shared by every other ethnic or socialzation group (I think Britain overall reacted to the London subway bomings in a much more measured way than other places have dealt with natural or unnatural disasters, as well as Madrid and Bali) but for most the Pledge of Allegiance (other than the “one nation, under God” controversy, which you can skip by silence at that part) and “The Star Spangled Banner” still mean something.

And another thing is that even if some want to move to another part of the country or even another nation, we’re not apologizing to everyone because we’re from where we are. Some call it arrogance, but I call it regional pride. That’s the little stuff like accents and whether we eat biscuits or bagels or have very specific ideas on what a dish of “greens” is (in my part of the South, that’s collard greens or polksalat, hand-picked and stewed and served with vinegar.) That’s how things are, and if you turn up your nose to sweet tea, that means more for me.

But pretty much every city I’ve ever been to has the same regional tastes, regional definitions of food (I miss toasted ravioli like crazy, and sometimes think of driving up to St. Louis one weekend just to drink beer and have toasted ravioli with her. We’re all fans. And we’re all living our own American dreams of just hoping to get by and get better. At the moment, things are tight aboout the “getting by” part, and like other naive folks I’m wondering how this bank bailout deal is going to affect me, who couldn’t buy a house to get foreclosed on, but has a 20 percent increase in utilities and is having to be very cheap on food to pay for gas. My way of living is shared by almost everyone I know, but most of us aren’t waiting for a handout. If anything, we’re looking for a raise and not to spend most of a paycheck on gas.

So instead of thinking of all the differences in each other, we should look for things we share, such as the working hard part — I think when a person is doing what they love in a fairly complimentary environment (and hopefully can find another place to work if not). Even if we can just agree to work together to keep people working, that’s going further than most political folks have ever managed to get.

As far as the football’s concerned, like a team or pick up an international version like FIFA-style football/soccer, rugby or Aussie rules. Or hate it entirely. But accept one thing — the Titans are 7-0 now, y’all! Nothing wrong or unfair about that.

Anne Pressly (KATV)

My sincerest best wishes and prayers go to the family who knew and loved Anne Pressly, better known as the KATV-TV morning anchor in Little Rock who died today of injuries inflicted as she laid in her own bed last week by a probable robber. By all accounts, she was a wonderful and sweet person, and I can’t help but think of other anchors and reporters who I’ve worked with who are so precious that the thought of anyone knowingly hurting them makes me ill. I’m sure that’s how many of Pressly’s colleagues now, and I can do nothing but express my support. So I will.

Also, I was talking last weekend to a non-news friend about how depressing the work is day after day, with murders and abuse and heartbreak galore. Most of the folks affected will never be paid more attention than possibly a short SOT during one or two stories about the person who they will love and miss forever.

Today, the news and the family had a famous name attached — not because Jennifer Hudson was in trouble herself, but now she’s lost two family members and is waiting for any word about a missing third. All I know of J-Hud basically came from her movie roles, especially in “Sex and the City” where her character Louise, a St. Louie girl who never gave up on love, was the best character in the film. But now she’s just like the countless family members who is grappling with the violent aftermath. I hope she manages to stay strong, and I pray that her nephew is found.

Anyway, I left out The Streets from my previous post, which is something I have to remedy. This is pretty much the perfect video to illustrate what the credit crunch is doing. And yes, it’s very depressing. Kinda reflects one of my worst nightmares. But I do like the point about everything being borrowed.

And because I want to put something kinda cheery at the end, I’m going to break the rules and do a song that starts with S. And I’m also breaking my personal rule to hate any Robbie Williams-less Take That.

This song succeeds not only because it’s one of those tunes that it’s impossible not to smile too, but also because Mark Owen is the lead singer, and he was pro-Robbie that he even dueted with him at Knebworth. Even though this throws the S thing out the window, you should see that. It’s the best rendition of “Back For Good” ever.

So see there, no depressing anything. All hopefulness and optimism. At least except for the family who got tossed out of their house mid-breakfast. That kinda sucks.

You need to come to http://ariedana.com for my blog instead of to the Wordpress subdomain. Hopefully I’ll figure out how to do the static page correctly and my blog will then dance like I did at 16 –self-consciously and waiting for God to strike it down.

Speaking of which, if you’re subscribed to me the way God intended (via my Feedburner feed) the feed should work. If you’ve got a direct feed, here’s the new link.

Oh, and I’m really interested in getting a new header graphic here. The one thing I’m definitely not is an artist, even if a graphic one. If you’re 1) experienced at such graphic design, and 2) really cheap, please e-mail me.