Most mornings I sit down in front of a computer screen and have an entirely unproductive 20 minutes while the coffee is steeping and getting cold. Then the day is peppered with emails and tweets and newsflashes and blog checkings, all of which are definitely 100% work-related. Still, though, I’m surely missing something – I’m just curious to see if there’s a good source of information for Atlanta culture and goings on.  What blogs should I be paying more attention to?  Is there a google calendar someone put together floating around out there? Does your friend have a hilarious weekly email that he sends to 30 people?  Where do you guys get your Atlanta-based intel? I’ll go first.

I love Scoutmob, like Thrillist (as a stingy female I’m not their primary demographic), and read Creative Loafing blogs and features pretty religiously for things to do/buy and cheap places to eat.  I read CL’s Omnivore blog (love Cliff) and actually go to the AJC for John Kessler’s food column.  For business news I turn to the Atlanta Business Chronicle and Global Atlanta, for Georgia politics I skim Peach Pundit, and I click through Paste Magazine for music and various culture (not Atlanta-specific but based here and such an awesome publication). For neighborhood news I’m on a listserv or two (I think most of the intown neighborhoods have these) and look to the EAV Buzz as well.

What say you guys?

Have no fear, loyal listeners – contrary to what we all thought, metblogs isn’t shutting down (some sort of technical difficulties probably involving serious mathematical equations put things on hold for a while yesterday).  See here for  details and donation opportunities, if that’s your sort of thing, for the greater metblogs site.

This means Atlanta metblogs is back for the attack.  We’ll continue updating y’all on sports teams on which I cannot name a single player, bitching about traffic and transit, debating the merits and potential of Underground, hyping scoutmob, and lamenting the loss of Tortillas.  Anything else you’d like to hear about, or think everyone else should hear about? Let us know, we may very well even get around to posting it!

just a few short weeks ago, I was completely unfamiliar with cormac mccarthy’s one-act play the sunset limited. actually i am not even sure i knew that cormac mccarthy even wrote plays. a few weeks back i heard two actors talking about a product of the sunset limited they were performing in, that was taking place in downtown atlanta. the interview, broadcast on am 1690 (a definite favorite of mine), and subsequent several minutes of dialogue from the play they performed on the radio, intrigued me tremendously.

thus, when scoutmob (twitter; @scoutmob) showed up in my inbox the next morning with a 50% coupon for the same play (thanks scoutmob!) i decided to check it out.
so last night i went to theatrical outfit (twitter; @theatoutfit), which is in a small theater next to the rialto and saw one of the best stage productions i have ever seen in this city.

a one-act play that deals with complex issues like race, religion, faith and futility and suicide is not an easy thing to pull off (see the wikipedia entry on sunset limited for a primer on the plot), and to make it work, the actors better be damn good. and in this production they were.

the actor playing “black” was amazing; forceful and tender and with an incredible grasp of the rhythm of the dialogue that mccarty wrote for him. in fact through most of the play i kept thinking that he was overpowering the actor playing “white” and this was my one criticism of the play.

until the end, when i realized the director had done this intentionally, keeping “white” subdued and almost and blank canvas for “black” to paint on. It stayed this way, until about 2/3 of the way through the play, when “white” burst forward dominating the stage and “black.” very impressive feat of acting to pull off if you ask me, being able to hold back like that and then scream forward right at the end.

it’s a complicated work and i am still digesting what it means and what i truly think of what was presented. However, you only have a few more days to see this, so i wanted to get this review out, because if you are a theatre fan or a fan of cormac mccarthy you really owe it to yourself to get downtown and see this before it closes out.

sunset limited
theatrical outfit
through april 11
balzer theater
84 luckie street nw
atlanta, ga 30303
678-528-1500

I don’t know what everyone else will be doing this weekend but I’ll be at the Cobb Galleria Centre (just ITP for those that don’t venture outside the realm) for the American Craft Council Show. The show is in its 21st year and it really is the premier place for one-of-a-kind handmade items. The show runs Friday through Sunday (with a special preview benefit Thursday night) and you can get $2 off tickets if you purchase online. But, if you’re a member of Scoutmob (which we’ve touted here before), you already know that today’s deal was 1/2 off a one-day admission to the show. Whether you’re into mixed media, jewelry, glass or any other type of handmade craft, it’s worth the trip to the Galleria to see some of the amazing things that people can create.

*And, please forgive the Beastie Boys reference, I automatically sing it in my head whenever I think of crafts. Yes, I know I’m weird.

since i posted about scoutmoba few weeks ago*, i thought i would just take a moment to follow up on my experiences with the service.

i have used it twice, both times for 50% of deals. the first time i used it was the day after scoutmob had launched and i used it at no mad cantina and while the server was a bit confused when i showed him my phone, he returned with the manager who promptly gave me 50% off the check.

by the time i used scoutmob a week later for brunch at murphy’s the servers were pretty well prepared and the table next to me was actually using a scoutmob coupon too (one note from murphy’s – the scoutmob iphone app requires you to be near the location to get the coupon and i couldn’t get a gps connection inside so it wouldn’t let me pull up the coupon. suggest pulling up the coupon before heading into a venue.)

both of those establishments were picked, btw, because i had a scoutmob coupon.

there are a ton of other scoutmob coupons sitting on my phone that i am dying to use too as soon as the opportunity presents itself.

so call me a fan. you should get on board atlanta, and if you have an iphone get the app. it’s a pretty cool way to manage the coupons.

we love to try to bring you the scoop on the social media stuff when we can here at the atlanta metblog. one thing i wanted to pass along to you is a new social media “deal” service is going to be launching in atlanta tomorrow called scoutmob.

scoutmob is being brought to you by the same folks behind skyblox, atlanta’s largest provider of free wi-fi. the service will be an exercise in group buying. every day, scoutmob will send out subscribers one deal to a local business either through email or you guessed it, iphone app. no charge, no advertising, just one deal, hand-picked every day.

a quick scoop the folks at scoutmob wanted me to pass along to you, the first deal goes out tomorrow and will be to murphy’s in virginia-highland, which is a fine establishment and worth getting a coupon to for sure.

to sign up head on over to scoutmob.com or download the iphone app which is in the app store now and be ready for some killer free deals.

also, check out their blog for info on getting an invite to a launch event.

social media free stuff, FTW!!!!!