YouTube flotsam that’s making the local rounds. YMMV.

ATL Hoodrat aka SOULJA GIRL goes crazy on the Marta!

[Via james]

Sturgess Fillmore Presents… ATLANTA!

[Via CL’s Fresh Loaf]

Which one of these videos is more indicative of the Atlanta you know and love?

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Away from your mom and her apron strings this weekend? Want to be the stand-up son or daughter she thinks she raised?

Come out and volunteer tomorrow morning at the Komen Atlanta Race for the Cure event at Atlantic Station. Volunteer check-in starts at 6:30 and is (usually, don’t quote me on this) set up just outside the movie theater.

There will be 12,000 people out there who could use your cheering and support, and your karma could probably use some cleansing anyway.

Don’t want to volunteer? Not running or walking? Then it’s probably a good idea to stay away from AS until after at least 1p.

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Seen on a bumpersticker on the way to work this morning: “Put that anta back in Atlanta”.

Opposition to airport codes, a dig at ATL Open/Brand Atlanta or subtle race-baiting in the local music scene?

Maybe everyone is just down on The ATL?

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Old news, good times: This stunning fan-made video was shot here in Atlanta. From the technical skill required to put this together to the choreography and physical feats necessary to pull it off, this is great work. Geeky? Damn straight, people. But who doesn’t love a good lightsaber duel?

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Atlanta’s much anticipated summer classic film festival, Screen on the Green, hosted by Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. and Peachtree TV, in conjunction with the Piedmont Park Conservancy, will return for a ninth season, May 29 - June 26 in Centennial Olympic Park. At sunset each Thursday, Screen on the Green will present a free outdoor showing of a classic film on a 45-by-24-foot movie screen.

I feel (not the good kind of) funny about SotG being a) in COP and b) not brought to me by TCM.

I’m sure I’ll get over it.

The lineup:
Thursday, May 29th– Jaws
Thursday, June 5th – Big Mama’s House
Thursday, June 12th – Chicago
Thursday, June 19th– E.T.
Thursday, June 26th – Viewers’ choice of Back to the Future, Footloose, or Rocky

Other fine print from The Man:
The films start at sundown (approximately 9PM)
Come early to reserve your space, bring a picnic dinner, your family and friends.
ABSOLUTELY no pets, alcoholic beverages, or glass containers allowed!! Please leave all high-backed chairs, grills, umbrellas home. Bags will be searched (help! I’m being oppressed!)

Screen on the Green plans to return to Piedmont Park once drought subsides.

Soooooooooooo…are you going this year?

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I apologize for the pun. Something about blogging brings out the junior copy editor in me.

Or I’m just naturally cheesy.

Anyhow, the Celtics won and the Hawks lost. Still nice to see/hear Philips rocking. *This* was what many folks in town (and james and I) have been talking about/waiting for: an energetic style of play and an outpouring of hometown, homecourt support.

Will it last next season? With the coach?

And you could do far worse than read some of CL’s blogging on the subject. They seem to get the local angle, the sports and the blogging. Kudos!

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On May 21, 2008, at 7:00 PM, the Ride of Silence™ will begin in North America and roll across the globe. Cyclists will take to the roads in a silent procession to honor cyclists who have been killed or injured while cycling on public roadways. Although cyclists have a legal right to share the road with motorists, the motoring public often isn’t aware of these rights, and sometimes not aware of the cyclists themselves.

In 2003, Chris Phelan organized the first Ride Of Silence in Dallas after endurance cyclist Larry Schwartz was hit by the mirror of a passing bus and was killed.

The Ride Of Silence is a free ride that asks its cyclists to ride no faster than 12 mph and remain silent during the ride. There is no brochure, no sponsors, no registration fees and no t-shirt. The ride, which is held during Bike Safety month, aims to raise the awareness of motorists, police and city officials that cyclists have a legal right to the public roadways. The ride is also a chance to show respect for those who have been killed or injured.

For Atlanta riders, we’ll meet at Charles Allen & 10th at 6:45pm. Please wear a black armband to honor those who have fallen, we’ll have some on hand as well. We’ll have a sheet you can sign to indicate if you’re riding in memory of someone in particular. A few words will be said, then our ride will leave promptly at 7pm.

If you have any questions, just ping me, I’m the one attempting to coordinate the ride. Facebook junkie? We’re there too, join the group so we can know to expect you.

Here’s the route we’ll be taking: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Ride-of-Silence

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Word on the street is the Jocks & Jill’s in CNN Center - frequented by people wanting to kill time and grab a bargain buzz before events @ Phillips Arena - is being replaced by Taco Mac. According to the Taco Mac website, however, the new location is situated in the Dome. Maybe it’s both?

Either way, I was going to say “can I get a woot woot?”, but I’d rather have a beer.

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the clean air campaign is looking to you to help take one ton of pollution out of atlanta’s skies over the next year.

it’s actually pretty simple - you just commit to one alternative commute a week. carpool, public transit, bike, walk, telework - anything other than driving alone. the math says that the average atlanta commuter would take one ton of pollution out of the air by doing this once a week.

so what do you say, up for the one ton challenge?

if so you can register here.

i’d tell you about my own experiences becoming a ‘clean’ commuter, but i might get accused of self-righteous preaching again ;-)

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SI.com has a new feature article/report on fan experiences at MLB stadiums and Turner Field, home of the Braves, ranks 19th out of 30 venues.

I’ve never been a huge fan of “The Ted” but I don’t dislike it either. It just seems to lack some of the character of an older stadium, the neighborhood feel of some of those same stadiums and it comes off a bit vanilla.

Don’t get me wrong. The old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium was as cookie cutter as they come, but isn’t “The Ted” just a newer version, following a different trend.

Sure, this trend is better, but it just lacks character.

Of course, cheap ticket prices and a winning tradition make any experience above average, but on the whole, I think ranking solidly in the middle seems about right to me.

What about you? How does “The Ted” stack up against other ballparks in your mind?

For the record, I like Wrigley Field, but I have roots in the Midwest and I saw my first game their at age 6. I also watched a game at the old Comiskey Park in it’s last season, but was unimpressed.

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If you like to take pictures, you’ll dig the hell out of the Sloss Furnaces . The place is loaded with great inspiration for pictures, from the interaction of nature and industry to the textures of rotting metal and weathered brick. And yet, the place is classy, accessible, and somehow clean feeling even though it’s also rife with rust and weeds. Beautiful juxtaposition there.

The Sloss Furnaces, located in downtown Birmingham, are about two hours from metro Atlanta and worth the drive. The place is kept as a local heirloom, but it’s not a behind-ropes sort of place. Wander around. Touch things. Take pictures. The place is just set out for you, interactive in the most elemental sense—you control your trip, you decide where to go, you find your own unique photos even in this often-photographed place.

The steampunk vibe is palpable and lovely.

There’s this terrific performance venue on the grounds, too, beneath a towering metal ceiling, with a sloped warehouse-style floor ending in a stage that slopes up and away from the audience—perfect for visibility and a great mix of an outdoor venue with some indoor comfort. When we were there, in the midst of an otherwise quiet Sunday, dudes were sword-fighting on stage, in front a cameraman. It was like a damn episode of Highlander in there, in a good way: industrial swordplay.

First, it was kids with iron rods, letting loose with huge overhead swings and swashing blows. Their “swords” clattered off the stage, sending thudding, ringing echoes into the space. They hollered dramatically. One kid back-flipped away from a lunge. If you’d told me these kids were going to replace those rods with lightsabers, I would’ve believed you.

Then, after all that, they did it again. Same moves, better timing.

All this was a rehearsal of the Shakespeare at Sloss company, preparing their performance of Macbeth for this weekend. It looks like one hell of an exciting, stylized production, and they couldn’t ask for a better space for action-packed Shakespeare. If you’re game, take some of your weekend and head out to performance this weekend, May 3rd and 4th. The show’s at 3pm each day, so you can drive out and back, no problem.

If you happen to catch the show, be sure to come back here and drop a review in the comments. I’m hoping to get out there, but I’ve got to work, so I may be counting on your reviews for my vicarious satisfaction.

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Anybody think the Hawks will eventually win/Celtics lose this first-round series.

And if you haven’t been watching this series, the Hawks are a different team at Philips than they were in Boston. Josh Smith and Joe Smith are *definitely* worth the price of admission.

Who’s going Friday night?

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like picking belly button lint or reorganizing your sock drawer, the one and only vanilla ice will be appearing tonignt at cowboy’s in kennessaw.

yo v.i.p. let’s kick it.

if you don’t even know how to get to kennessaw you should probably just go ahead and skip this one.

for those not planning to help vanilla ice fund his retirement, what are you up to this weekend?

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When the weather gets like this—warm but not hot, sunny but not humid—I think about dashing out to small towns in the country and looking for farmer’s markets. I think about driving around rustic roads with the windows down and the music up. I think about jarred honey and vegetables with dirt still on them.

In the Midwest, I have a good idea how to run out and find those places. Out here, I’ve only done it once, but to great success. Last autumn, the wife and I spent a weekend perusing old houses and buying fresh food in Washington, Georgia, and I’m pretty sure we’ll be driving back this spring to do it again. (See what I wrote back then.) It’s a good distance—away but not far—and a pretty drive, depending on how you do it.

When we were out there last fall, we decided to spring for a night in a local B&B, which I’ve actually never done before in the States. (I think of B&Bs as Something You Do In Europe and New England.) My advice? Do it. Go forth and spend even just one night in a small town this spring.

The B&B we chose was the Washington Plantation (pictured here), and we will absolutely go again. Just having the nice weather here has me thinking about it. The place is charming, but both big and cozy. You get rooms with fireplaces, but also cable, for the best of both worlds. Plus, it’s got a three-legged cat, which is always good.

I don’t have a fireplace or cable at my house, so that’s almost reason enough to seek out a night away right there. But, of course, a B&B is half bed and half breakfast. Our bedroom was a claw-foot-tub and candies-on-the-pillows kind of place, good for the history buff in me, but good also for the guy who wants to sit around and watch a Dirty Jobs marathon for two hours. Breakfast, I recall, was awfully good, with fresh fruit and French toast, but aside from the grits (terrific, but I’m neither Southern nor a purist, so my opinion may not be worth much), what I really remember is the conversation.

In my opinion, the hidden reason to stay at a B&B—and what makes it a trip in its own right—is the chance to chat with new people over breakfast. Every time I’ve done it, in the UK or the US, I’ve thought “it’s going to be awkward,” but it never is for long. At the Washington Plantation we talked politics with strangers and it wasn’t tense or vitriolic or fake. It was pleasant, thoughtful, reorienting. It was an exchange of ideas, like you read about. Even as somebody addicted to the Internet for it’s supposed ability to facilitate communication, I pine for happy conversations with strangers. You know, in person.

It said a lot about the place, to me, that it was the pinnacle of a long search for the perfect B&B-worthy home. The funny and welcoming Yankee couple that runs the Washington Plantation, Tom and Barb, drove up and down the old Colonies looking for a spot to live out the dream of running a B&B, and they landed here. It’s easy to see why. The house seems built for slowing down, for sipping at Saturdays, for breathing deep, for sweet tea and sunshine. By the end of breakfast, and maybe some kind of crazy-delicious sausage grits I can’t forget, you’ll probably start thinking about moving outside the Perimeter and opening a B&B, too.

Of course, you won’t go through with it. But that’s the point, right? We don’t have to. We can go and live inside somebody else’s dream house for a weekend, drink wine on a wraparound porch, chase a three-legged cat, and browse the local real estate, without giving up our lives ITP. We can get away, and come back. Good deal.

Next week, why Birmingham, Alabama’s Sloss Furnaces are a great photographer’s daytrip.

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i tried to tell you a long time ago. our hawks ended the nba’s longest playoff drought and snuck in as an 8 seed in the eastern conference finals.

the hawks open tonight against the celtics in boston. sekou smith has the match-ups, and you can see how hard it will be. the hawks have lost all the regular season games against the celtics by 10 points or more, getting blown out by 23 in the first meeting.

the celtics are arguably the best team in the nba, and one blogger is seriously hoping the hawks can just win ONE game.

the hawks are 15.5 point underdogs, which according to some is probably a good bet. i’d offer to bet my friends over at the boston metblogs but i am a realist.

either way they are in the dance and it’s nice to say i told you so…..

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