pecanne log

I just have to say, I haven’t been to the Aquarium in a long time, mainly because I didn’t think my daughter was old enough to appreciate it, and because the crowds get to be a little much for me.  But free blogger day passes?  Yes, please.  In all honesty though, I would have paid to see the Planet Shark exhibit.  It was absolutely awesome.  It’s really dark and there’s spooky music playing and friendly guides who come and chat with you about some of the items on display.  The progression of the exhibit is pretty perfect, starting with the usual skeletons, teeth, and interactive computer displays.  My two year old really liked looking at the shark poop.  Then it transitions to the spooky portion, which includes long hallway/tunnel that is completely wallpapered in articles about shark attacks, and they play audio from interviews with shark attack victims.  It’s pretty intense.  It turns factual again, featuring all types of life-sized “shark suits,” before ending with a plea for help on behalf of the sharks.  With my 2 year old in tow, I kind of had to skip some of the sections, since I didn’t want to scar her for life, but my husband was enthralled.  I’m pretty sure if you were a ten year old boy, you would want to move in.  What I wasn’t expecting was the emotional reaction that came up for me in the end of the exhibit.  Maybe it was the case of snacks made of various shark parts, or the shark replicas tangled up in fish nets, but I admit it, I cried a little for those sharks.  And I wasn’t even PMSing.  I could go on, but I won’t.  Instead, I’ll present you lovely readers first with a coupon for the exhibit, and then with some of the promotional media they passed on to me.  Enjoy!

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I haven’t even looked at gubernatorial candidate John Oxendine’s new cutting-edge animated commercial, but because some blogger helpfully posted screenshots so I get the general idea: it’s like The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but set at metro Atlanta’s most popular tourist spots.

Obviously, this is my new desktop background! A rat with human hands and gold jewelry at the laser show!

Each year he gets closer and closer to The Big Chill.

This Saturday is the fourth of July, just in case you haven’t been paying attention. It’s always kind of agonizing trying to decide where to go to watch the fireworks, especially if you are like me and can’t decide whether or not you should subject your toddler to a way late bed time and possibly terrifying experience in the name of tradition. While weighing the pros and cons of picking the perfect spot to set up a blanket, eat some watermelon and see whether or not an 18 month old is really of the fireworks age, I have been trying to at least decide where we should go if we do go. When I was in high school and still living off my parents, we would get a hotel room in the Embassy Suites in Centennial Park, and you could see the Lenox and Centennial fireworks from the roof. Too bad I was too embarrassed by my parents and my suburban-ness to really appreciate those trips. Now I’m way too broke to stay in the Embassy Suites. Some of our other spots have included random parking lots of random shops on Peachtree near Lenox Mall where other fireworks-watchers have created their own tailgating parties. Fun, but a little bit of a bummer when you watch people peeing in bushes right before climbing behind the wheel to drive home. Most recently, I went to the Decatur Square display, but watched from one of the church lawns. I was pregnant and all of the children running around with glow sticks warmed my heart. In my research, I found (of course) the Access Atlanta “Best of the Big A!” official fireworks venue winner. Apparently Stone Mountain won by a slight margin.  Lenox Mall’s fireworks were a close second.  They also list their top 5 picks for best venues, as well as reader picks.  My favorite aspect of the review is all of the creative ways that the author picked to say “watch fireworks.”  Seriously.  My favorite phrase is in reference to the “pyrotechnical treat” at Lenox Mall.  Well played Shane Harrison.  Well played.  BUT, I do seriously wonder if they really think that the ASO 4th of July All-American Celebration is the fifth best place to go, or if they were just trying to seem fancy.

For more good times, make sure you check the reader comments on the winner announcement page.  There are some golden responses, like this one from David, who is clearly right off of the Straight Talk Express:

Roswell High School, no music, no pre show. Bring some Popeye’s … enjoy your family and friends … then it gets dark and there’s fireworks. Simple.

I’m sold.  Thanks David.  But just in case some other readers aren’t, does anyone else have any good suggestions?

photo via youngbloodgallery.com

Like I said, it’s too much work to mention notable Halloween events around town but I can discuss the more manageable Day of the Dead, which Atlantans aren’t as psycho about…yet.

Like Boxing Day, Day of the Dead comes right after a holiday that Americans go balls-out for, and while we like the idea of continuing yesterday’s celebration for one more day, we are kind of unsure what this foreign holiday is all about and are fatigued from last night anyway. Well, anyone who took an intro Spanish language class knows sort of about Día de los Muertos/All Saints Day. It’s where people in Mexico do a lot of stuff with skeletons and bright colors. No, but really, read about the real thing here.

Youngblood Gallery is hosting a Day of the Dead exhibit curated by Tweet Design. They’re going to have all the necessary fixings – sangria (it means BLOODY in Spanish, y’all), sugar skulls, coffin art, and the bossa nova sounds of Grinder Nova.

Star Bar has some sort of all-day music festival for Day of the Dead that includes Kuroma, so whoever it is that stumbles on this blog daily while googling Hank “The Other Redhead” Sullivant, now’s your chance to see him in person (it’s getting harder since he keeps quitting every band he’s in as soon as they land a track on a primetime teen soap opera) instead of on the internet.

The newish Bone Garden Cantina is doing some stuff, as is the Atlanta History Center. (via Access Atlanta)

I really wish there was some sort of parade in town for this occasion, but I don’t think there is.

The monthly joy of the Indie Craft Experience is back! Tonight as a matter of fact. No longer do you have to wait for the Centennial Park and B-Complex festivals to fulfill your crafting needs. Tonight they have a line-up of 13 vendors at the new Youngblood Gallery and Boutique on North Highland Avenue including one of my favorites, Glue and Glitter. While you are there, also make a point to check out Linda Hall’s exhibit that is up in the gallery right now. 

Linda Hall

Finally, Mark Davis is relieved of his gas price coverage duties, leaving some other AJC hack to write about this one time gas was under $4 at this one gas station, and he can get back to his calling – romantic stories about zoo animals, nature prose rife with all sorts of literary tropes: onomontopoeia, puns, euphemisms for animal sex, fun facts, anthropomorphism, more onomontopoeia, more euphemisms for animal sex, and lots of ambiance. His latest 500-word masterpieces are “Trunk with joy” (6/14), about elephants’ toothpicks, and “Bear the great outdoors” (6/28), some helpful tips for when wildlife wanders into your suburban backyard.

Some of the most poignant moments:

Dear homeowner, it’s easy to understand that prickly feeling along your neck, that sweat on your palms. They’re coming out of the woods, long-clawed and short-tempered —- bears!

Elephants run through molars like boys run through sneakers.

But what about bear No. 5? Maybe he’s in the far, shadowed reaches of your backyard. What was that sound back there?

Whump! The onetime tree quivered as it landed in the dirt again. It was an enriching moment.

I can’t wait for the anthology and/or his novel about warthog love!

Previously: PSA: Your summer jam

Show & Tell is this Sunday at Eyedrum from 1 to 6 p.m. Show & Tell is an opportunity for artists to meet and present work to members of the Eyedrum Art Committee. This event is considered an alternative to submitting a formal proposal for a show, and artists who participate will be considered for future art exhibits at Eyedrum. Many artists who have attended previous Show & Tells were awarded solo shows in our Small Gallery. Others are being considered for group exhibits. All you have to do is bring in your work and talk about it. If you are shy, don’t even fret: you will only be talking to one person at a time, and I promise we are not intimidating in the slightest. You probably made fun of us in high school.

Music blogs across the nation are a-buzz! WHO IS WHITNEY PETTY, DEERHUNTER’S NEW GUITARIST? Is she a real person or a hot suburban stoner cheerleader guitarbot built by Bradford Cox out of his magic “blog” technology? How will she reconcile her love for Aerosmith with Deerhunter’s ambient musical autism? Does Thomas Wheatley know her since they share an alma mater? More importantly, do Thomas and Whitney realize they may have more in common than they thought? And why was she at a party four years ago with two other hippies?

Details are still coming in! The intrepid bloggers at Pitchfork got their hands on her last name so who knows what other deep dark secrets they will dig up!

Atlantic Station’s developers lobbied to get a ZIP code that would roll off the tongue and be a symbol of prestige and power, but no one knew about this until AJC told us. They got what they wanted – 30363 – which should be easy to remember, I guess, because it has so many threes.

“That was very deliberate,” says Brian Leary, vice president of AIG Global Real Estate Investment Corp., the Atlantic Station developer. “We’ve been using that ZIP code as a lifestyle statement. We want them to think ‘I am 30363.’”

The Atlantic Station people are not-so-secretly jealous of 30307, because the code that includes Inman Park, L5P, and Candler park has bumper stickers proclaiming 30307 is “not just a ZIP code, it’s a lifestyle,” as well as calendars commanding us to “OBSERVE THE CODE” above photos of an old hippie dressed as Uncle Sam and a pair of golden retrievers wearing tie-dye shirts.

’80s hc punk mohawk = (photo by: bill hallman, atlanta)

I stumbled across the Flickr of Tonya, a girl who was totally into the Atlanta punk scene in the ’80s. She lives in San Francisco now but plans to dig through more old B&W negatives of punk shows at Metroplex et al and eventually add them to Flickr.

L5P punk scene (1984?), Atlanta: Brian Goodman, Little 5 Pts, Atlanta.

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Overheard in Bill Hallman dressing rooms:

“Mooooooom, I don’t want Woodward kids to get their hands on TOMS. They just want J. Crew and Lacoste. They are so unoriginal. This would blow their minds.”

There is nothing I dislike more than people toying with my emotions. I do not appreciate getting emails from people misleading me to think that Kara Walker, the artistic apple of my eye, is coming to Atlanta tomorrow for a workshop. Apparently, Spelman College is hosting artlure 2008: Reinventing the Reel tomorrow from 6-9pm at the Camille Olivia Hanks Academic Center. The email was titled, “See how Kara Walker does it,” but only is referring to the silhouette workshop being offered. Jipped, I am.

The Creative Loafing mudslingers are all in a froth over the sordid scandal surrounding DOT Chairman Mike Evans’ resignation, but I am smitten by Evans’ romantic resignation letter:

Over the course of those five months, I have grown to admire [DOT Commissioner Gena Abraham] and respect her more and more every day. Her sense of integrity and work ethic is well known throughout state government and I can see why. Over the last month or so we have grown to care for each other more than on a professional level, she became my friend. As our friendship developed, we realized that there was the possibility of something more than friendship.

I hope when my secret boyfriend has to quit his high-profile position because of our forbidden love, he writes such a swooning press release extolling my womanly virtue!

If you need a visual of what that kind of love looks like, check out Tommy W’s photoshop skills:

Festival season is here(!), which means that the Atlanta Film Festival is right around the corner, April 10-19 to be exact. The films will be shown at the Landmark Cinemas at Midtown. Panel discussions will be held at the Woodruff Arts Center Saturday and Sunday.

The opening night film is The Lena Baker Story which recounts the story of the only woman to ever be sentenced to the electric chair in Georgia. This screening will be at 7.30pm, followed by an Opening Night Extravaganza at The Contemporary. Who doesn’t love an after-party?

Some notables that will be shown during the festival this year are Farm Girl in New York which sounds like it will have a definite Christopher Guest appeal to it; Woodpecker  which will appeal to all of the David Lynch fans: “Exploring the twilight of uncertainty between narrative and documentray styles, all truth becomes subjective in the existential comedy about a troubled man desperately searching for an elusive bird that may, or may not , be real.” Young @ Heart will of course be adorable. Stephen Walker documents a New England nursings homes chorus which performs punk songs to audiences. Skills Like This won audience pick at SXSW this year.

The closing night film, and the one that I am the most excited about seeing, is The Visitor. I saw the preview when I went to go see the disaster that was Miss Petigrew Lives for a Day. It looks amazing. I love any movie involving the geriatric, and this one looks like it will fall perfectly into my “fist-pumping, go-get-em, you can do it movie list” . The premise: a lonely widower is living out the remainder of his days with little interest in anything. He is sent abroad and when he returns home to his New York apartment he finds that a young immigrant couple have been squatting in his apartment. The couple ends up staying with him and help hm find a renewed sense of self and purpose. Of course, the male-half of the couple is arrested and the movie goes on from there. I have no doubt that this will address the immigration issue, but unlike many an overly-political film (cough cough Children of Men) not at the cost of the story. The Visitor is directed by Thomas McCarthy who also did The Station Agent which bodes well for the quality of this film. 

There is something about alternative space art shows that gets me every time. When a space can be chosen to perfectly complement the work and layer on the ambiance, nothing gets a whole lot better. Maria Watts’ Reynoldstown basement fit the bill this weekend to a T for the video-performance-installation-sound showcase, Electro-Scuro. The one-night exhibition featured the likes of Karen Tauches, Maria Watts, Jason Cochrane, Mariah Cagle, Lauren Macdonald, and Carrie Elzey. Although the ever-so reminiscent Silence of the Lambs basement night light vision scene was a bit off putting at first, as you wound your way through the basement, the echoes of each video and sound installation became a bit more haunting still and even more all-encompassing.

Maria Watts, who curated the show, showcased a new twist to her video installations. Watts’ past shows, including her piece from Mary Stanley’s 21 Under 30 show and her installation in Eyedrum’s small gallery over the summer paid homage to her relationships and a fascination with capturing the tactile elements of her day to day life. Her installation for Electro-Scuro, “Untitled: A Work in Progress”, provided a spin on her approach to the sensual from her previously unabashedly candid views into her life. The room was harshly lit, and in contrast with the darkened, damp basement was an immediate draw. The room was lined wall to wall cracked eggshells along the floor begging to be walked on. In the corner of the room a video of Maria’s feet clad in the perfect eggshell cracking Doc Marten boot stomping the ground, but without any eggshells beneath. I must say, her suggestion was a hard one to resist, considering that the lack of sound in the video was dying to be filled with the sound of my own two feet doing the favor of crushing the shells. Considering the title, it seems she intended the viewer to be the one to finish the project.

The back-most room was a sound installation by Carrie Elzey, “While My Heart’s Still Beating”, which utilized the space the most effectively by engaging the somewhat buried feeling of the basement. The room featured a window which spanned the wall of the room and looked directly onto the yard outside, but right at grass level, without much room to see what space lay beyond the span of the grass directly outside. A record player in the corner was started followed by a pulling of a cord in the ceiling which triggered an outdoor light. I honestly don’t even remember what was playing on the record player, but the sound mirrored the lives of the grass dwellers outside of the window.

Karen Tauches’ performance, “The Lines of Communication”, had a definite Twilight Zone feel to it, that I think gave me nightmares later that night. Tauches sat at a desk and recited a customer service voice message while an accompaniment attempted to order from a catalogue in the chair next to her. I don’t know whether it’s the fact that online shopping has taken the place of late-night catalogue ordering, or the fact that the installation used an old-fashioned phone which hung from the ceiling, but the otherworldliness of that act seemed more striking to me than the installation itself. The fact that the human element of things has been removed from so many aspects of our day to day life is not anything new, but Tauches presentation of it was such a caricature that it certainly brought the discourse to a head once again.

Watt’s show if nothing else confirmed for me that video installation can strike many more chords than the average art show these days. Eyedrum’s show from a few weeks ago, ReNEW, ReUSE, ReVIEW, seemed to stress that it is going to be a stretch to find the truly avant garde through traditional media. Electro-Scuro was aware and moved ahead with the trend.

This is a long overdue post, but I feel is a good one to return on after my hiatus. Many of you are probably already familiar with The Atlanta Creatives Project, but for those who aren’t and those who are I think they are a wonderful group to bring up to the forefront of interest.

The project is documenting Atlanta’s creative core to provide backgrounds and faces to place with names around the city. They are establishing a visual and biographical record of the cities young creative forces that would otherwise not be available to the public. On top of that though, photographer Neda Abghari is getting some amazing shots that are completely worth an hour of your time to go through. As of right now the project is being sponsored by local businesses such as rag-o-rama, velocity screen printing, and whitespace to name a few.

The most recent addition to their cataloge of artists is Kristen Mitchell, who also goes by Kiki Blood for her performance work. To date, they have gathered a slew of people, many of who I am definitely going to be printing out poster sized versions of and hanging on my wall. I’m thinking Dosa Kim, Karen Tauches, and the Black Lips will look perfect above my bed with some kiss prints on them.