Criminal Records’ A-Hole Santa returns again this Saturday, December 16th. I don’t think this one is for the kids, folks. Promises to be pretty darn funny, though.

I don’t really know how to explain the above title other than to say the Georgia Department of Transportation has left some smaller Georgia towns/hamlets/cities/shallow spots in the road off their latest map.

Internet coverage:

• CNN
• BoingBoing 1
• BoingBoing 2
• Chattanooga ABC affiliate

This isn’t technically about Atlanta, but I know we have readers throughout the state (possibly affected) and perhaps if the name of our fair city were smaller, other places might not have to be jettisoned.

Just a thought.

I wrote here about the nutjob Gwinnett mom who attempted to have Harry Potter books banned from Gwinnett County schools back in October. Looks like she’s at it again, with an appeal to the Board of Education. They vote on the appeal Thursday. Luckily, though, WSB has reported the name of the elementary school (J.C. Magill Elementary) that her poor offspring attend; hopefully some pint-size peer pressure on her kids will put a stop to this nonsense.

Sorry if this was also posted during the month that I was gone, and I just missed it, but I figured I should share this heartbreaking news with everyone: The Elvis of Lantern Inn is calling it quits. By Christmas, the three eras of Elvis, the buffets and the Lantern Inn will all be done. From what I hear, all remaining shows are sold out, but you never know, so if you want to say goodbye you should drop the Lantern Inn a line.

We’ll miss you Smellvis.

Those of you who went to Octane today may have noticed the filming that was going on in the middle of the store (plus there were signs on the door). I did, paid it no mind, and sat at a table getting some work done. My back was to the shooting and I had my earphones on, so I really wasn’t paying any attention to what was going on. I was working for about thirty minutes and had just restarted my computer when I was approached by the director of the project (and he had been manning one of the cameras). He told me some story about how they were working on a project for Turner and their lead actor had run off and they just needed to finish one scene. I try to be wary of “hidden camera” type situations, but I didn’t have much to do and figured that as long as I kept a lookout so that I wasn’t doing anything too silly I would be okay.

Stacy (from CBS46 News, they said, but I didn’t see her on this page) was the co-star. I could just memorize a line at a time and deliver it to her and, thanks to editing, the pauses could be edited out. Well, the script was HORRIBLE consisting of a mashup of famous movie lines and other horrible lines (“Darling, I love you like waves of amber grain flowing in the dusk light,” “War changes a man,” “I’m’ mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore,” “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn,” “I could’ve been a contender,” etc.) placed to look like a scene between a boyfriend and a girlfriend (who is dumping him). I delivered the lines and they had me do some of them again and again and also in different accents (I went with Southern and Australian). But there was nothing that could’ve been construed as me being an idiot. The whole experience lasted 15 minutes.

Afterwards, they told me the real story. It was sort of a statement about badly delivered movie lines and how just people off the street could deliver them better than they were in the movies they were in. Of course, some people are awful (I might be one of them, they told me I was good, but who knows) and some people apparently get really upset with themselves for messing up a line. It’s for a new show, by This is Not Art Productions and they told me that it was for Turner, so I suspect it has something to do with this.

All in all, a fun little experience. And not too humiliating.

It struck me last week while I was shopping at the Jewish Kroger (that is what I call it, anyway) at Lavista and North Druid Hills, that one of the things I love about Atlanta is the duality of the city. Atlanta is at once backwards and cosmopolitan, southern and multicultural, small-town and worldly.

Only in Atlanta does a large Jewish population reside in Merry Hills subdivision on a street named Christmas Lane. Only in Atlanta could you be shopping at Kroger, listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” piping through the store, when they suddenly break in on the loudspeaker to announce: “Rabbi Shwartz, you have a call on line one. Rabbi, line one.”

Sometimes I just love this city.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Taco Mac (the one in Va-Hi) is one of the best places to be a regular in all of Atlantaland. I n addition to that, it has one of the best trivia callers around. Anyway, tonight I reached the 225 mark in the Passport Club quite accidentally. Among receiving my Ph.D. from GaTech, I cound this as one of the greatest achievements of my life. And, because I know the other regulars, I was part of a 2nd place trivia team tonight and got most of my bill paid for by the bar regulars.

Let me repeat it again, best place to be a regular in all of Atlanta.

this is just a reminder from your friendly long-distance running metroblogger that you have until december 31 to save money registering for the inaugural ing georgia marathon. registration is also capped at 15,000 and last i hear they were already up to 5,000.

register before the 31st and you can save ten bucks on either the full 26.2 or the half-marathon, which metroblogging’s sabrina has pledged to run (see comments here,) although i am still working on getting her into the full marathon.

seriously, if you are a marathoner or thinking of becoming one, this is a great opportunity. atlanta is finally getting a big-time marathon like the ones in new york or Chicago, with huge spectator base, entertainment, etc. the atlanta marathon is much more of a small time affair and great for what it is i imagine, but this thing will rock.

organizers are also promising some really cool inaugural race swag. according to the website:

Each participant will receive a unique commemorative inaugural medal, a Mizuno technical shirt, commemorative marathon poster and many other goodies that will be available only to those participating in this first time event.

and speaking of swag, i was in the big peach in brookhaven the other day and if you register in store, or bring in your confirmation and then buy a piece of mizuno apparel or shoes, they will give you an awesome free georgia marathon driscience mizuno running shirt. needless to say i grabbed mine, and it is damn cool.

Fans of opposing NFL teams are now skipping the funny “Ron Mexico” reference to Michael Vick and going straight for the herpes. Wait, that sounds gross.

Read/look at this Deadspin entry for more on an enterprising and descriptive fan and his Mike Vick #7 jersey to see what I mean.

Too weird.

[Via Best Week Ever]

So, if you read the site last week, you know that we participated in a Metroblog-wide event where each city posted about the Seven Gifts their city had given to the world. If you weren’t aware, you are now.

Either way, here’s a handy dandy summary post to keep you informed and arguing. Whether you like the list or hate it, we hope you’ll comment or blog about our inclusions and snubs.
(more…)