Okay, it isn’t so sad because we won last night over the Pacers. This raised our record to 11-28, one game in front of Charlotte (11-30) for the NBAs worst team. I’m sad because back in December, when we won 5 out of 7, I thought we would make a run at respectability, but since then we’re 4-10 and, well, not looking too good. It’s kind of sad… I can’t wait for baseball season…
Well, we didn’t. (And that’s a good thing.)
But one of our local pseudo-celebrities made The Beast’s list of America’s Most Loathsome People for 2005. Every year since 2002, The Buffalo Beast has meted out charges, proof and (unusually cruel, but often hilarious) punishment to 50 hand-picked citizens from the past year. And hey … good ol’ Jennifer “Hispanics In A Blue Van” Wilbanks is #23. Check it out:
23. Jennifer Wilbanks
Charges: Wasting the entire nation’s time and attention without actually being abducted and killed. The “Runaway Bride” fiasco marks a new low point in modern news, an episode in which the media devoted more attention to a single fruitcake than the rest of the damned world, discovered her to be simply an inconsiderate flake, and continued their shameless round-the-clock coverage of her unabated for many days afterward, compulsively playing 10 seconds of towel-headed perp walk footage over and over and over again, as world events were left to take care of themselves. This bug-eyed bitch and her doormat fiancée, after all, were important—right?
Exhibit A: Even if she were actually abducted and killed, it wouldn’t have merited 1/1000th the coverage she got in the first day of this speculation orgy.
Sentence: Actually abducted and killed.
Remember how excited I was? As soon as I read the news, I rushed on over to tell you all. Idlewild! March 10! Huzzah!
Well, forget it.
For reasons unknown, Paramount Universal has delayed the Outkast-driven musical to a yet-to-be-determined later date in 2006.
The National Black Justice Coalition, a civil rights organization of Black lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people dedicated to fostering equality by fighting racism and homophobia, is holding the Black Church Summit, a major discussion on lesbian and gay rights among Black faith leaders January 20-21, 2006 at First Iconium Baptist Church on Moreland Avenue. The summit, which features fiery civil and social activists Keith Boykin, Bishop Dr. Yvette Flunder and Rev. Al Sharpton is nothing short of history-making, especially considering that the Black church and the Bible Belt South have never been very tolerant of homosexuals.
Sharpton lead the keynote speech on the Summit’s opening on Friday by saying, “It’s not a question of bringing the issue of the gay and lesbian community to the church. It’s about having an open discussion because they’re already there. All of us know that this is nothing new. The only thing new is to have an open discussion on how we deal with it.”
Last Friday fellow Metro Blogger Aradia and I stopped into Table 1280 before watching the Golden Dragon Acrobat Circus in awe (sorry, no…shock). Table 1280 is the restaurant at the newly expanded Woodruff Arts Center. We decided to eat there out of convenience so I wouldn’t have to park twice. I’m glad we did, the food was excellent. I started with the Baby Field Greens salad then moved on to the Bison with a side of Lobster Mashed Potatoes. I finished off with the Georgia Apple Galette. I usually don’t do dessert, but the food was so excellent I couldn’t pass it up. The crowd was mostly older with some kids here and there. As for decor it was very bright with lots of overhead lighting. They also had multi-colored fluorescent tubes on the wall in the dining room. I didn’t care for them but it was unique. The water glasses, condiment shakers and silverware were cool. I usually don’t pay much attention to details like that at restaurants, but the food was so good it made everything else interesting. The vibe was bustling with some bad techno playing in the background. The staff were very friendly and didn’t have a snobbish attitude, which I half expected. Our waiter was awesome – ask for Matt if you go, you won’t regret it. We won’t be heading back anytime soon though. It’s not that we didn’t have a good time but close to $200 after tip is a little out of my comfortable price range. So if you want to impress a date, are rich, or can write it off I recommend giving it a try.
You may have heard that Mayor Franklin ordered a temporary moratorium on the construction of new large homes on sites where smaller homes once stood in several intown neighborhoods (Buckhead, Va-Hi, Morningside, Ansley Park, and Lake Claire), essentially freezing the residential nature of the neighborhood for the time being. This moratorium stays in effect until the city council votes on Feb. 6 on a longer 120 day moratorium for the same neighborhoods.
The moratorium will prevent real estate investors from tearing down older homes and building new, big ones while the council considers restricting the scale of houses in Atlanta’s neighborhoods. The infill-teardown trend has blazed across Atlanta and close-in suburbs during the “back to the city” craze of the past five years. Established communities changed almost overnight as 1,500-square-foot ranch homes and bungalows built in the 1950s were demolished and replaced with houses 6,000 square feet or larger.
“A lot of people move into Virginia-Highland to live in bungalows,” Virginia-Highland resident Andy Walden said. “So I know people who are upset with bigger homes being built.”
I’m probably going to show some of my political stripes right here, but let me just say a couple of things and ask a couple of questions.
1) Do you think that such a move will encourage or discourage people from moving back in to the city? That is, given that I can build a larger house, cheaper in some neighborhoods, why would I live in the place where I’m not allowed to build the type of house that I want?
2) If you don’t want people to build the type of house that they want then you can (a) either buy their house or (b) have joined a condo-board or some other neighborhood that has a strict covenant.
3) Neighborhoods, and cities, are fluid things, changing all the time. And you can remember the olden days when it used to be some way, but the fact is that they change the way that the market and, thus, the people want them to change. If you think it is so important that we preserve the character of a community, then do you also believe that we should make it so that no types of businesses can leave the neighborhood? Perhaps we ought to have banned Starbuck’s from Little 5? Me, I’m not so in to the idea of government mandating the character of a neighborhood – it wreaks of central planning to me and that doesn’t really work out so well in the long run. Neighborhoods change to meet the needs of their market. They need to be allowed to change. Neighborhod “management” strikes me as something far better than neighborhood “preservation.”
Now, of course, there are issues of tree management and daylight-protection for houses, but those can be challenged/answered on an individual permit-by-permit basis. Isn’t that what the whole point of getting a building permit and people being able to challenge it is?
ATLANTA – The Atlanta History Center has acquired nearly 1,000 Confederate relics – including rare munitions and the bloodstained jacket of a slain Georgia teen – and experts are praising the collection in world-class terms. Story from MercuryNews.com
The war relics won’t be available to the public for some months but, I’m sure they’ll be a great addition to the Atlanta History Center’s collection when they are.
Empowering Artists
Acanthus Arts
Resources, Information, and Support for the Arts through Technology
Hell yeah, I’d buy that for a dollar! The good folks over at Acanthus Arts have a lot on their plate at the moment. Perhaps the one thing most noticable to me is that they will be having art and music event on February 11th at Eyedrum featuring a concert by Andrew Bird (yes, that Andrew Bird).
Tickets are onsale now for that dollar plus nine more ($10) here. Buy your ticket soon, because as they say on TV, quantities are limited..
[Many thanks to Maigh for nudging me into posting this.]
I’m swiping this story from BoingBoing, but I’m betting there are folks that:
A) Don’t read Boing Boing
B) Don’t know Ward Jenkins or read his blog or check out his Flickr photos
C) Don’t live in Decatur or
D) Don’t pass Victory Vintage Home on a regular basis
I’m actually three of those (guess which), but I think the story should be here.
Basically, Ward is a local artist/animator and some teenagers came and urinated on the mural he’s doing for Victory Vintage Home. He actually takes a pretty longview of the whole thing whereas I, not being an artist, might have gotten quite pissed (pardon the pun).
In any event, it’s not every day some Atlantan makes BoingBoing, so I thought I’d point it out.
And, tangentially enough, one of the folks Ward links on his blogroll is my next-door neighbor, whom I hadn’t realized had a blog. Weird.
William Shatner’s in the news today because he’s auctioning one of his kidney stone’s on the Internet.
I did the same thing in 2002, but the mainstream media ignored it!
Here’s what I wrote about it in 2002 in Creative Loafing:
When I was a kid, I learned in science class that you can make crystals by dissolving certain mineral-rich powders in water. I remember asking my mom to take me to the grocery store to buy alum powder. I made a handful of crystals with it, marveled at them for a week or so, then threw them away.
Although my conscious mind forgot how much fun crystal-making was, my unconscious did not. Without telling me, my left kidney decided that crystal making would be a good hobby. Next thing you know, I developed a kidney stone, which I passed a couple of weeks ago. (Note, “passed” is simply the polite word for “pissed”). I’m so impressed with Lefty’s work that I’m auctioning it on eBay. Just go to www.ebay.com and search for “kidney stone,” or “Andisheh Nouraee” and you’ll find it. I’ve even included a photo. My kidney stone will make a wonderful gift, so bid a lot. Like Rick Astley said, “You wouldn’t get this from any other guy.”
Ebay stopped the auction before its end-date because, they said, it violated their policies about selling body parts. Jerks.
It’s not easy being ahead of your time.
