Thursday, May 31, 2007

Baby Snot All Around!

Ok... I'm finally ready to crawl out of my nasty little rock I buried myself under over the last 24 hours. I've got to surface for FINALLY being able to find the funny in all of this nonsense (see below), when I get the last of the mud off of me.

I just want to make sure we all show up at Doug's going away party at the Red Light on Saturday at 6:30pm, drink buckets of booze, and see who flies their redneck, fucked-up upbringing, stupid ass flag first. My money's on Grant!

Blogger 24

I'm coming up on hour 24:00:00 in my trip down the old media vs. new media Atlanta rabbit hole. I feel as battered as Jack Bauer! Apparently Rusty does too.

Follow the threads here, here and here. If you're strong enough to survive the strange bad vibe negativity that is.

When all is said and done about this 24 time frame, we're the only ones who cranked-out podcast product before the clock struck midnight. Did we win? Or are we just dead and don't know it yet?

I need to get to work on the screenplay.

What Planet Did I Land On?

So I went to see this man about a dog. A Social Media Club dog. And came up with a not so nice pat on the head. I am still feeling like the dirtiest whore on the planet for having sitted through the whole mainstream media "presentation" at WSB just smiling and nodding. Just like a good, stupid southern girl is taught to do.

Rusty, Amber and my post-spin rooftop podcast on the utter and endless bullshit is here. I am still shaking my head with astonishment that I let myself be led so far down that yellow brick road.

Pretend Voices Carry

Couple of magical thinking ops for "the public" coming up...

1.) The DNR is solicitous of your thoughts on our state park system. More info here. My only wish is that they reinstate Sally Bethea to the developer-skewed board. But you likely already know that if you read this blog.

2.) Atlanta Press Club wishes to dismiss, excuse me, discuss new media. I'll be there to help facilitate the stoning of -- myself. Or to mangle a line from Life of Brian: "Crucifixion? Excellent! Just ahead on your right."

3.) Neither here nor there, but it needs to be said to Creative Loafing:

I hope you (CL) are happy with your smug, arrogant, snotty-ass, pompous, over-inflated selves and sense of media importance now. You’ve managed to really
hurt and confuse a lot of hard working, indie bloggers by playing favorites, first time out of the cover story gate, with a piece about the Atlanta blogosphere.

You might as well be 17-year old cheerleaders at Wheeler High for all the maturity you’ve shown towards our new media community. We’ve worked so long and so hard and created such amazing bonds and systems of support, only to have you announce to the world that not only do you not understand social media, you want to trample on it at every given opportunity.

I’m so angry right now, I can hardly see straight. I hope I calm down enough by the time we ever cross paths again. You’re no better than Newt Gingrich with your divisive, derisive ways.


So there. Got that off my chest I suppose. It's not yet noon and I need a drink and a smoke. Plenty of that, and hot air too, all around.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Of White Boys, Beer, Legs and Lipflap

Despite my best effort to screw-up this first attempt to broadcast live broadband TV, I managed to make a few minutes worth. Alert the media! They're not going to be happy to hear that you don't need networks of TV stations, staffs herded by a megalomaniacal hierarchy, microwave trucks, satellites, 100K cameras and a 401K plan to make live TV occur anymore. Heck, I just borrowed a mic from Rusty, used my kid and Shelby The Rocket Scientist for PAs, and voila... live shows and a pony for everyone!

If you're into white guys' pale legs sitting around rapping about GA politics, this is the show for you. It's all up hill from here at least.

I Should Have Guessed!


One of my daughter's favorite DVDs is Barbie 12 Dancing Princesses. While I can't stand most of these animated Barbie offerings, this story is adapted from one of my favorite childhood Grimm Bros. fairy tales, Twelve Dancing Princesses, in which assorted princesses would sneak out at night and dance so much that their shoes would be worn to pieces by morning. (I could always relate to sneaking out at night to dance.) Of course there would be hell to pay the next day, but that's to be expected in fairy tales of any kind involving females.

Back to the point... I just love the voice-over work for the evil Duchess Rowena in Barbie 12 Dancing Princesses. (There's always an evil Queen/Duchess/Psychotic Control Freak character in any fairy tale, naturally enough.) Sometimes I wander the house practicing one favorite line, "Don't tell me your King has no monkey!" Ava says I sound exactly like the evil Duchess Rowena. What a compliment!

I finally remembered to look-up just who voiced the fabulous Rowena character, and it's the adored, beloved Catherine O'Hara from all the Christopher Guest comedies! Delightful...


"Don't tell me your King has no monkey!" Rainy day project: Make podcast of me being Catherine O'Hara being Duchess Rowena.

The Real Georgia Gang

I know you're itching to survey the political scene in Georgia, but you sure don't want to turn on that icky TV and have Dick Williams' little bow tie annoy the bejeezus out of you. Try a Georgia Politics podcast with your morning grits and iPod, instead. This podcast episode includes -- me! And chatter about: Sonny, GA Republican squabbling, The 10th Congressional special election, and New Media impacting the local political process. Enjoy.

Blog entry about New Media turned into quickie column for Georgia Political Digest too.

Clone Your Blog Posts! Make Millions Doing It! Work From Home! Easy Money! HaHaHaHaHa!

Sunday, May 27, 2007

The Multimedia ATL

I am just freakin' constantly blown-away by the cool multimedia shit being done by folk here in the ATL. Whether political ads, political campaigns, podcast parties, excellent blogs, videoblogging, music, film, Twitter happy hours, you name it... I am proud as a momma bear to call so many of these creative wonders friends. One dear old friend and colleague, Home Depot TV days, who keeps pushing his own envelope and impressing me on a daily basis is Chilton. Here's something steamy from his world to ours. Where Chilton sees that bad moon a'rising, I see only creative blue sky.

"A Divorce On Paper Only"

(This post cross-posted at Peach Pundit too)

Rest assured, some folks' worlds are getting ready to get severely rocked. And when Alan Judd's through with this story, a lot of people who thought they might have slipped quietly out under the radar, Kai Franklin for instance, may just be headed to the pokey instead.

Judd's extremely effective investigative work just overturned, thankfully, the inept, lethal anthill that was our state mental health system. (A shame Dr. Andrea Bradford there was allowed to resign; she should be prosecuted for murder, same as the legislators who have continually slashed funding to the state system of mental health care. But that's another story I suppose.)

Expect the same treatment with the Graham case, as Judd picks up where CL left off. From today's AJC cover story:


Franklin and Graham remained in regular contact, according to evidence presented during his sentencing hearing. Graham's co-defendants testified that while he was a fugitive, he sent drug money to Franklin: one bag of cash holding $25,000, another with $20,000. She also got portions of $150,000 that Graham invested in her father's business, King testified. David Franklin said last week that the investment never occurred.

In California, King said, Graham bought a pre-paid cellular telephone to call only his wife, thinking it would be difficult to trace. King referred to the device as "the Kai phone." "They would talk about different things," King said, "but sometimes about paying bills."He said Franklin regularly sent bills to Graham at the house where he was hiding in suburban Los Angeles.

King said Graham told him "he still had responsibilities to take care of for Kai."Graham used postal money orders to pay Franklin's bills, an Internal Revenue Service agent said. They apparently took pains to make the transactions difficult to track.

Franklin, agent Wayne Wright testified, bought the money orders in a "structured fashion" to avoid scrutiny. She had each money order issued for less than $3,000, the amount that triggers reporting requirements designed to detect illicit transactions. And she allegedly bought multiple money orders at multiple post offices on the same day, or in different lines in the same post office.

Wright said authorities have obtained about 60 such money orders. Other alleged discussions between Franklin and Graham during his time as a fugitive were of amore personal nature. When Graham wanted to see his child from a previous relationship, Rivera testified, Franklin picked up the boy from his mother and dropped him off for a flight out of DeKalb Peachtree Airport on a chartered jet. Rivera said he ferried drug money back to Graham in California on the same flight.

The visit troubled King."I just told Tremayne that he has to tighten up," King testified, "because he can't let something like that let the authorities track him through his son." Rivera said he accompanied the boy back to Atlanta several days later. He left the child with Franklin, he said, in her Cobb County home.

Sunday Sports Page

Why do I do this to myself? Wake-up and turn right to the NYT Wedding section every Sunday? It's never a good thing when you allow other people's seemingly preposterous, yet quite real fairy tale romances to set that tricky-to-manuever winsome yet bitter tone for the day. Here's today's installment of "I Must Have Been A Hideous Person In A Previous Life To Be Stuck With The Cracker One I Have Now"...

The couple traveled to Biarritz to surf. “We would surf three times a day, have a big lunch, eat moules frites, and go back,” Ms. Mortimer said. And then, there was the light.

“It was incredibly cloudy,” Mr. Gaghan said of one evening the couple went surfing. “Then the clouds dumped two-inch raindrops, and the silver raindrops are backlit. And Minnie drops into a wave and disappears — the biggest wave of the day. She pops up surfing this wave, just flying, with incredible courage. Then she’s standing in the sand, holding her board, and behind her, from one end of France to the other, this rainbow appears. ”


Full torture here. Back to getting the hound dog out of the neighbor's dumpster for me.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

SGR Turned Two

My my my... I've been so immersed in the consuming importance of being Grayson, I forgot my own two-year blogging anniversary. Oh well, they didn't call me Spacey for no reason at all. Here's the first post, No Money Changed Hands, the one where I talk about how I got stuck with being Spacey Gracey. Here's to the journal I always wanted to keep and never did... until two years and two days ago. Doing so has changed my life.

Why I Hate Folk Art

Sarawara's Tweet about her cat possibly being stung by a wasp reminded me of how I can't bear the sight of folk art. (Although I loved the movie June Bug, but that's another story.) The only time I went to Howard Finster's wacked out world 'o kiddie crayon art up there in North Georgia, for a news shoot circa 1988, the crazy MFer looked me in the eye and started raving some barely lucid lunatic babble about the Bible and harlots... then I got stung by a wasp on my left hand. (See photo.) I spent the rest of the shoot in a really bad, painful mood, then had to go find a doctor because my whole arm swelled up like a blister in the sun.

Paradise Garden my ass...

Old Media Noticing New Media In Georgia Politics

(This post cross-posted at Peach Pundit too.)

With the 10th Congressional being one of the few political shows in town, in the country for that matter, won’t be long before Big Media notices all our Little Media efforts here in Georgia, just as the Athens Banner-Herald has. Especially if Marlow makes it to a runoff on June 19th. Then the big guys will be all over us, trust me, because we can then, and only then, say that New Media is likely impacting the political process in the Peach State. Likely.

I caution anyone to use extreme caution when believing a word out of a political advisor’s mouth right now about new media. Not only do they tend not have a clue about new media as a whole, they don’t have a clue about the impact of new media on voter behavior. So when people make statements like this from the OnlineAthens story:
Unless a (newspaper) story’s written about it, the people viewing it (an online video) probably know how they’re going to vote anyway,” (Emil) Runge said.

…trust that they’re pulling statements out of their as* book of facts.

No one, at this point in time, has a clue whether a “traditional” print story about a YouTube video will impact voter behavior or not. Just as no one has a clue whether watching a YouTube video will translate into feet to the polls. There simply is no data right now to support any kind of “new media” political reality.

Let’s hope that some of our fine Georgia (national?) pollsters will seize the momentum of this special election on June 19th to get out there and gather us up some good, hard data on whether or not “new media” influenced not only:

a.) how people voted.
b.) But also did new kinds of media get folks off their butts and actually out of the house to vote at all?

In the meantime, don’t believe any hype coming from “traditional” campaigns on any side about what the Internet vs. traditional media will or will not do for them. They simply don’t know. Anyone trying to dazzle you with statements about the impact of any kind of media on politics right now is simply flying by the seat of their (old media advice) pants.

One For The Civil War Folk



Check out more great offerings from EggMan Films here.

How Lovely!

Friday, May 25, 2007

Gawd Forbid You Talk About Politics!!!!

Michael hon, I love you to pieces, but you are one way-gay sexist pig.

Blame The Liberal Bias Of The Internet

I am not making this up… Now conservatives are saying that YouTube has a liberal bias. Not getting enough hits to your crappy videos, like this hate-filled slop from angry little Jordan Greene, son of 10th Congressional candidate, Bill Greene?

No prob, try QubeTV. It’s Internet TV for the people not smart enough for… YouTube! I am seriously ROFLing.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Save The Date - June 7th

To all my ATL blogger peeps... please mark June 7th, two week from tonight, on your calendar. The Atlanta Press Club has... gasp... discovered social media. Weirder things have happened I suppose. Anyways... getting to the point here, I'll be moderating a panel of whomevers for this APC event that night, at the Commerce Club downtown I believe.

And yes, this is something of a Big Deal for me, and I REALLY need all my blogging bretheren there for support. (Besides, if only six people show for the event, I'll get really bummed and have to go get drunk or something.)

More importantly, MSM in the ATL need to not only hear about new media, they need to see it up close and personal. We have got to put an end to the this is a silly, unimportant trend that will surely pass mode of thinking by traditional media while we're at it.

So please plan to be there for this historic event on June 7th. I'll post more details as they become available from APC. Their forums usually start around 6-7pm.

Word.

Forget Cannes... Bubba Auteurs Got It Going On

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

This Video Belongs To You And Me

To piggyback on Buzzbrockway’s post at Peach Pundit about YouTube warriors, consider the case of Congressional floor (speech) video…. who owns that material, and why has only C-SPAN had ownership and rights to that material… up until now?

Others are at least getting into the biz of selling back to us something that really should belong to us in the first place, least I feel that any and all video generated from the floor of OUR Congress should belong to us — and it should be free to access for any and all YouTube Nation tribal members to use as they see fit.

As the mighty media blogger, Jeff Jarvis says, and I fully agree:

Just as with the presidential debates, that democratic discussion should belong to the people and to truly give it to us, Congress should be doing everything CQ (Congressional Quarterly) is doing — for free.

Jarvis’ post in full is here. Times like this, we need to remind ourselves that we are now The Media.

And if we are, then why are more "traditional" journalists not acting as if they are now The New Media, rather than just waiting around for their bosses to tell 'em how to behave? (Jim Long is just about the lone exception to this sorry state of affairs, bless his new media heart!)

Matt Waite, a reporter for the St. Pete Times, tells it like it is. Preach on Brother Waite, preach on:

I can hear people I know gnashing their teeth already. Why should I do something that costs me time and maybe even money to benefit my employer when I don’t get paid for it? Here’s my response, and it’s two-fold: If you don’t, you run the risk of being first up for layoffs (so you’ll REALLY be uncompensated) and the more skills you have, the better off you are for whatever newspapers evolve into.

Or even if they go away completely. Let’s play fantasyland for a second: newspapers collapse, and all that content goes away. Someone is going to step into that void. Let’s pretend it’s Google and Yahoo and MSN. Do you think for a second they aren’t going to want new media skills? That they’ll be impressed with your paper clippings and your stubborn insistence that you can only write a story for a printed publication?

Come on. Wake up.

Snake Done Gone


When Bernita isn't stalking the halls of the Gold Dome, inspiring us with her amazing brand of politics, and her hilarious, dead-on writing, she's busy wacking monster rattlers in her gram's back yard. Now there's a woman who's not scared of Jack or shit! She recounted the adventure in an email:


My Grams and I were driving from town (Augusta) and I spotted it as it was headed into my cousin's yard. I wouldn't have cared but my cousin's house is the site of the big ol'e Ritter family high school graduation gala - got 6 of them graduating on Friday night. So a big cousin has to do what she has to do!! Hell that's my graduation present to them all.

I probably would have been scared as all hell if my grandma wasn't standing next to me and giving me tips. She's done the snake warrior thing a good many times in her day.

As Garrison Keiller once said, "Well, I reckon Southerners are fine people, and I've met plenty of good Southerners, but sooner or later they all get around to talking about snakes."

Now those are true words.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Georgia Dems Meet New Media

The Georgia Democratic Party's annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner was a place to not only see John Edwards' hairdo up close and personal, it was also the place to find out just how Georgia politicians are using social media.

Even Uga Gets Rotated Out Of There

Do we really need another aging, out of touch geezer headed to Washington to puff himself up with visions of representational glory for all? Whitehead's best benchwarming days were long, long ago.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Suck The Chrome Off That...

Here's the ATL's own Michael Alvear (the guy I'd give up being hetero girly-girl to become a gay man for) on why oral sex IS the relationship.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

About The J-J Dinner Last Night

The Georgia Democratic Party’s annual Jefferson-Jackson party last night was a blast, especially with Presidential hopeful, pretty boy John Edwards offering rock star, red carpet glitz to the evening. (And yes, he is adorable in person, but Jon Flack is right, the hair is overrated.)

Heck, Edwards’ had TWO drum lines to give him that big ‘ole ATL welcome. And 1,700 gushing fans crushing on him, quite literally, to get the money shot with their camera phones. Working the crowds, Edwards’ charming, tanned face would reveal a flicker of tiredness, then in the blink of an eye, it was gone. You wondered if you’d just imagined such a thing.

Edwards worked the crowd like the champion show-jumper of a lawyer he is. He’s no Bill Clinton; he’s just “too white” to get on that one-of-a-kind wavelength, but Edwards is quite charismatic in his own right, and a beautiful, engaging orator.

Besides Edwards, the entire evening was a Georgia politico and media Who’s Who. I was at the dinner table alongside Jim Galloway of AJC’s Political Insider; bless their hearts, they were live blogging! (Guess I can’t call ‘em old farts now.) Galloway was a seasoned journalist on a mission… to unearth just WHO produced that anti-Whitehead YouTube offering! Blogger Jon Flack of the new Tondee’s Tavern blog sat next to Galloway and fed him tantalizing tidbits, but no names, all night long.

I shot loads of great video myself, asked a question at Edwards’ presser alongside the Big Broadcasting TV guys, and hope to package some of the DV goodies over the weekend for you folks.

My personal highlight? Interviewing Vernon Jones about blogging! Heck, Vernon had more signage there than Edwards. All in all, a fabulous time was had by many Georgia Dems, despite the icky, remora fish lobbyista swarmin’ over the place too. Lordy, do they EVER go away?

Look for good things to come all around with GDP, especially with Martin Matheny running some new communications operations and strategies for them. Their website is really heating-up under his guidance, with blogging too!

WABE Alert!!!

Lois playing something "I'm A Lumberjack-y." It ain't funny though. Here's your funny!

Should Have Gone To Law School

Wow -- if I'd taken my Dad's advice to heart years ago, I could have ended-up with a gub-mint job! See, a long long hazy time ago, when in college, I first expressed an interest in broadcasting and production. My dad, who was quite close to the Pat Robertson family (with Pat's brother Tad, who lived here in Atlanta until his death a few years ago), very much wanted me to go to wherever Pat Robertson's TV ministry was and learn TV production (and some kinda "values" too presumably) there.

However, not being terribly interested in All Things Evangelical at the time, nor am I now or will ever likely be, I politely declined the generous and well-meaning offer from Daddy "O" to try and help me get a foot in the door of that kinda TV biz. Back then, being young and impetuous, and just stupid and stubborn a lot of the time too, I mostly wanted to go my own route, and according to my own ability, into secular news coverage.

Had I gone the Pat Robertson route though, who's to say... I might have ended-up at his law school, and thereby almost guaranteed a job in the current Justice Department! Weirder things have happened I suppose, but the weirdest of all is the tale of the Christian law school, Regent University, founded by televangelist Pat Robertson, "whose graduates have become influential in the Justice Department."

The whole story, as told by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Charlie Savage of the Boston Globe, was on Fresh Air yesterday. Listen here. Fascinating. Scary too.

Your Podcasts Are As Icky As Aspic


Aaaaaggghhhhhhhhhh. In the ongoing theme song of the AJC, When Will They Every Learn, the online "thing" they're attempting is now offering hideous, voice recognition, robotic-sounding podcasts alongside their op/eds.

This one is mauled almost beyond recognition, which is a shame, because the editorial (in text only) is a good one. Click-2-listen only at your own peril.

As for the content of that editorial... my comments, duped over from Peachtree Screed's comments, since of course there is no commenting available (aaaggghhhhhhagain) on that op/ed, go something like this:

Episcopalianism is rampant in my family, for the ones who aren't agnostic at least, and that would be most of 'em. And while I am deeply fond of and grateful for the the liturgical and historical comforts of the Episcopal Church, I've been drawn to more, uh, down to earth modes of worship too, particularly the Baptist Church, being mostly a southerner when it comes down to it.

However, I've never been able to ever seriously consider making a break and worshipping at a Baptist Church because of, well, a lot of things, particularly their inability to separate church from partisan politics. If they could begin to do that, I'd begin to think of Southern Baptist as a viable option to (too Church of England-y) Anglicanism, which is undergoing its own severe identity crisis... but that's another topic altogether.

Besides, I've always preferred the more Baptist-like Jello congealed salads with marshmallows to those hideous tomato aspics Episcopalian church ladies are so fond of.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Oh Please Just Stop


In the ongoing saga to attempt a sequel to GWTW, I can only quote my dear cousin, Ms. Rheta Simons Barnes, of the "one S" Simons (pronounced as you would the more common "Simmons") of Charleston, of course... "Oh, this is so misguided."

I Hear Detroit Emoting

My new BFF in Detroit, Vergel Evans, has thrown himself into the briarpatch of one hot v-log deathmatch. Click here to hear, see and vote. I did. (For Vergel of course.)

Moral Majority (Quite Literally) Dead

I felt a moment of sadness, again... a moment, at the passing of Jerry Falwell. Never has a nicer, kinder person hurt so many people, nor divided a nation quite so well -- all with a perpetual smirk on his face. RIP, Mr. Falwell. That's some legacy you left.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Stop That Extremist Whitehead

Wow... we've got some very clever, very motivated people cranking some anti-Whitehead spots for YouTube. Two in one day. Here's Rusty's first. Then Tondee's Tavern. I hope Marlow appreciates all this (free) hard work put in by people who would like to send him to Congress and not that wacked Whitehead.



Monday, May 14, 2007

Something To Be Desired

Ahhhhh those precious twenty-somethings. New Something To Be Desired now up, guest starring -- kids I've never heard of, but who are of course precious.

Pork, Get Miss Pitty's Smelling Salts

I'm on Vernon Jones' blogroll. What will I wear? Amber, you're there too... any thoughts on this weirdness?

Blogger Ennui

I don't know what's gotten in to me. Is it yoga? Or does it have something to do with a culture that glorifies huge plastic animals nailed to billboards in our faces, and then throwing them out, as some kinda perfect world economic order we should all kiss more ass to have even more of? Beats the fuck out of me. I don't know when I'll return to my senses. I could care less really.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Your Morning Coffee Snort

Get a paper towel ready... the AJC discovers the Clermont Lounge, some twenty-odd years after the fact. Are they the cutting edge of this town or what?!

Great, Now Please Go Away

Seriously Mediocre Artists' Mother's Day news I could care less about here.

Mayor Franklin's Not So Great Mother's Day

Given that CL is stirring the investigative pot with Atlanta's top journalist Mara Shalhoup at the stove, my thoughts are with Mayor Franklin. I know what it's like to have a really really bad Mother's Day. From CL this week:

In addition to the allegations about the killings, the April sentencing hearing also offered insight into whether Kai Franklin Graham (Mayor Franklin's daughter) had anything to do with her husband's crimes. According to the Greenville News, IRS Criminal Investigations Special Agent Wayne Wright testified that she's currently under investigation by his agency and the U.S. attorney's office.

Once again, Shalhoup's investigative journalism, right here the ATL, reads like a crime novel you cannot put down. Just remember, she's getting her information from police reports, indictments, court docs, etc. Papers of public record that all those reporters over at, say, Cox Plantations just kinda sorta missed somehow.

We Are All A Work In Progress

Ha! Just turned over my over-sized Mother's Day card to read the following inspirational message:

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Heathens For All You Heathens

Holy shit... this is some wild-ass trippy episodic TV. Twin Peaks goes west. WARNING: For adults-only viewing. Click-on and thank me later. Click here for more episodes or for better viewing as I have some issues with embedding Blip.tv in Blogger.

1846. The town of Freedom, Texas. The local men, in an attempt to bolster their egos and prove their manhoods, exchange precious ivory for carnal pleasure with a mysterious savage woman.

Never Knew That About You

Whew... I can talk about this now that I know I'm not the only one.

Flannery O'Connor's Writing Place

Photo courtesy Victor Jones

Happy Mother's Day

This is really, really cornball, I totally understand. One of those things moms circulate via email forwarding, so who knows who to attribute it to. But it's also so very true and so very touching, every word of it. And having just had a too-much-pizza hurling incident all over the sofa, well...

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

This is for the mothers who have sat up all night with sick toddlers in their arms, wiping up barf laced with Oscar Mayer wieners and cherry Kool-Aid saying, "It's okay honey, Mommy's here." Who have sat in rocking chairs for hours on end soothing crying babies who can't be comforted. This is for all the mothers who show up at work with spit-up in their hair and milk stains on their blouses and diapers in their purse. For all the mothers who run carpools and make cookies and sew Halloween costumes. And all the mothers who DON'T.

This is for the mothers who gave birth to babies they'll never see. And the mothers who took those babies and gave them homes. This is for the mothers whose priceless art collections are hanging on their refrigerator doors. And for all the mothers who froze their buns on metal bleachers at football or soccer games instead of watching from the warmth of their cars, so that when their kids asked, "Did you see me, Mom?" they could say, "Of course, I wouldn't have missed it for the world," and mean it.

This is for all the mothers who yell at their kids in the grocery store and swat them in despair when they stomp their feet and scream for ice cream before dinner. And for all the mothers who count to ten instead, but realize how child abuse happens. This is for all the mothers who sat down with their children and explained all about making babies. And for all the (grand) mothers who wanted to, but just couldn't find the words.

This is for all the mothers who go hungry, so their children can eat. For all the mothers who read "Goodnight, Moon" twice a night for a year. And then read it again. "Just one more time."This is for all the mothers who taught their children to tie their shoelaces before they started school. And for all the mothers who opted for Velcro instead.This is for all the mothers who teach their sons to cook and their daughters to sink a jump shot. This is for every mother whose head turns automatically when a little voice calls "Mom?" in a crowd, even though they know their own offspring are at home -- or even away at college.

This is for all the mothers who sent their kids to school with stomachaches assuring them they'd be just FINE once they got there, only to get calls from the school nurse an hour later asking them to please pick them up. Right away! This is for mothers whose children have gone astray, who can't find the words to reach them. This is for all the step-mothers who raised another woman's child or children, and gave their time, attention, and love... sometimes totally unappreciated!

For all the mothers who bite their lips until they bleed when their 14-year-olds dye their hair green. For all the mothers of the victims of recent school shootings, and the mothers of those who did the shooting. For the mothers of the survivors, and the mothers who sat in front of their TV's in horror, hugging their child who just came home from school, safely. This is for all the mothers who taught their children to be peaceful, and now pray they come home safely from a war.

What makes a good Mother anyway? Is it patience? Compassion? Broad hips? The ability to nurse a baby, cook dinner, and sew a button on a shirt, all at the same time? Or is it in her heart? Is it the ache you feel when you watch your son or daughter disappear down the street, walking to school alone for the very first time? The jolt that takes you from sleep to dread, from bed to crib at 2 A.M. to put your hand on the back of a sleeping baby? The panic, years later, that comes again at 2 A.M. when you just want to hear their key in the door and know they are safe again in your home? Or the need to flee from wherever you are and hug your child when you hear news of a fire, a car accident, a child dying?

The emotions of motherhood are universal and so our thoughts are for young mothers stumbling through diaper changes and sleep deprivation... And mature mothers learning to let go. For working mothers and stay-at-home mothers. Single mothers and married mothers. Mothers with money, mothers without. This is for you all. For all of us. Hang in there. In the end we can only do the best we can. Tell them everyday that we love them. And pray.

End of Soccer Season Commemorative Video

Great season!

Back On The Chain Gang

I have a friend I think about every day. I shouldn't say "friend" because she "de-friended" me a long long time ago, 1986 I believe. I did something terrible to her, stiffed her for the rent I think, mooched her drugs, I can't remember, something of that nature, the details of that particular year are very very hazy, and she lost her place while I was busy losing my mind. (No worries though; I've long since found it.)

Things were kinda crazy back then. Oh to hell with that half-truth; things were very crazy... from about 1979-1987 for me. It's a miracle I survived any day of those particular eight years, come to think about it. But I did, thanks to the self-centered discipline the shark tank of corporate America requires. And here I am, 2007, where I've worked for so long and so very hard on all my issues, improved, learned responsibility and discipline and self-control and hard work a long long time ago. Full adulthood essentially, and I like it that way.

I can't remember anyone being more holier than the next back then, though. We were all pretty deranged and wild. My friend certainly was. But she didn't need trouble like me, so she jettisoned our friendship at the first sign of the fun coming to a screeching halt. She hasn't spoken to me since.

She's lived literally just a few miles from me ever since 1986. The only time I ever crack open a phone book is once a year when they arrive, and I check to see if my old friend is still at the same place nearby. She is. I've never once, in over twenty years now, laid eyes on her, despite us both having lived around Buckhead all this time.

I doubt there's a day that's gone by where I haven't thought about her. I once tried to make amends and repair the friendship in 1987, but I was too tainted, too destructive in her mind to every be anything but an object of her hatred and scorn. I can understand; we all need to have our little squirrely places to go to loath and hate and resent someone, create our little enemy base of operations in our minds and hearts, least we ever start stumbling towards the divine and learn to seriously forgive.

Lord knows I have ugliness in me sometimes I can't begin to describe, and it comes around and worms its evil way into my best and brightest moments even. Just like in some White Stripes song. I have a certain stone I sleep in, when I remember to, that seems to keep the worst of the worst dreams at bay though; I've not a drop of Russian blood in me, but I once read that Russian women, back in the good 'ole imperial days, used to require that their jewelers loan them pieces so they could sleep in the jewels first; only if they had good dreams while they slept would they consent to purchasing a particular gem.

Anyways... back to the story. I can't help but wonder if I'll ever have the opportunity to repair this friendship. I doubt it, as this person made it quite clear that she hates me with every breath she takes. But that doesn't stop me from remembering what wonderful, marvelous friends we once were, and how we met... in a philosophy class...

Sunburned and hungover, my usual condition for classes, when I bothered to show up for any that is, I plopped down in a seat next to her the first day of the term and first day of that class. When I straightened up enough to look around me, I glanced over at __________ and to my utter delight, saw that she had that dyed-black punk hair that was the fashion for about four of us at the Greek-laden, prep-nation school we endured for so long. Mine was sometimes pink. She was also wearing bizzaro Flannery O'Conner cat-eyed glasses. I leaned over and mouthed, "Love those glasses!" We were inseparable from that moment on, until we moved to Atlanta... where all the dark times began.

To be continued...

Friday, May 11, 2007

Apprehensive, Nervous Mother's Day Weekend

Given that I spent last Mother's Day at Children's Hospital praying for the life of my precious, precious, sweet child while she endured unimaginable terror, hell, pain, trauma and emergency surgery, having had her perfect, heavenly face ripped apart by a dog belonging to very very stupid people/grossly irresponsible pet owners, I'm trying really hard to stay calm and focused (yoga, litergical comforts do help) on other things this weekend.

It's gonna be a little tough, but I can do this! (The pychological impact of witnessing such violent trauma to one's own child being still as painful, quite literally, and acute as it ever was.)

The case has just been settled, so I can now blog about dangerous dogs (and irresponsible pet owners) and how they terrorize and maim millions of our children every year. The ones they don't just outright kill that is. And yes, I plan to get down to it soon.

Please think about donating to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta for Mother's Day... given the numerous childrens' lives they save there every day.

But what about the grownups?

Redneck Literati Underground


Slim and his boys have quite a honky-tonk weekend lined-up, with a special ticket-price nod to mommas on Mother's Day.

Friday May 11 at Smith's Olde Bar - Slim Chance & the Convicts will be playing at approximately 8:55PM as part of the 500 Songs For Kids event. Come early to see all the other cool acts, each doing one of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (as determined by Rolling Stone Magazine). We are doing #79, a tune about a guy with a tambourine. Music starts at 7PM, Cover is $7 and it all goes to a children's charity group. (SGR staff may try to make this one.)

Sunday May 13 at Smith's Olde Bar - the Wrights with opening act Byrd's Auto Parts, featuring the amazing Jon Byrd. Showtime is 9PM, I think the cover is $12 adv, and Mothers get in for half price.

PS: Mark your calendars for June 23, when Honky Tonk Meets Heavy Metal at Lenny's. Slim Chance & the Convicts will perform along with Dark Overlord!

Thursday, May 10, 2007

He Really Is A Rocket Scientist


Photo courtesy Steve Garfield

I Need Nokia Product

Someone, New Friend Who Must Not Be Named, showed me a totally cool brand new Nokia product, with every doo-dad you can imagine on it. The things this blog would do with one of those. Hint Hint Nokia! Guaranteed to put it through its paces if you send me one. Video posts every day! A pony for everyone! Flat taxes! Free money!

Pulver Show!

Aptly Named In The 'Hood

I love the weekly crime report I get emailed to my household for my zip each week. This item provided a nice morning chortle:

Evening WatchCommercial/Off Bldg
Other Larceny
5/2/2007 The victim placed her Apple laptop computer (# W8709448W0G) between a wall & couch to conceal its whereabouts while at Grand Hustler Studio. Upon return her laptop was missing. No suspects.


Takeaway: Read shingle before entering building.

Party Tonight!


The annual fundraiser and mega-fun party for Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, River Revival, is this tonight at Park Tavern on Piedmont Park! Tickets are $45. at the door. More info here.

Let's all party down, save rivers, network, schmooze, eat, drink and make merry at the park... dancing, bluegrass, and even Dames A'Flame!

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Thinking Blogger Award


One of my absolute fave bloggers, Tania Rochelle, just tagged me with a Thinking Blogger Award! What Internets tomfoolery will they come up with next? How about Republicans for Hillary? I kid you not.


Thanks Tania. Coming from a real writer/poet like you, I am quite touched. Now I have to tag 5 other bloggers with my own Thinking Blogger Award. Send me your nominations. But they have to all be metro Atlanta, okay? I take care of my homies first.

Fear and Loathing For Women in the Blogosphere

There's a lot to be scared of out there if you're a female blogger. From Slate today:

Sierra was a powerhouse blogger who in March shut down her blog, Creating Passionate Users, about the highly gender-charged subject of metacognition and computers. Sierra stopped bloging after anonymous critics posted graphic and sexually threatening material about her, both in the comments section of her Web site and on other blogs.

The posters (read them here) somehow confused death threats with debate on the merits of Sierra's views and policies. Some suggested that Sierra deserved to have her throat slit and to be suffocated, sexually violated, and hanged. Among the things Sierra wrote as she folded up her blogging tent: "I have cancelled all speaking engagements. I am afraid to leave my yard. I will never feel the same. I will never be the same."


Then again, I bet some of the stuff that's said and sent to bloggers scares the total bejeezus out of men bloggers, too.

So guys, you tell me -- have you been totally unnerved by something in the blogosphere that targeted you? I know I have had my nerves rattled bad on a couple of, uh "postings," and I'm not afraid to admit that it set me to worrying... for about a day. Then I got over it and went right back to blogging.

Still, I don't have the kind of high profile that some women bloggers like Michelle Malkin do. Just good to know what's waiting for you around the great corner of success though. I soooo can't wait to get there.

Blog on ladies, blog on.

Monday, May 07, 2007

I Got Your Eco Correctness


Jeez... And folks at PP think I'm some kinda wacko socialist greenie because I think that Sally Bethea should still be on the DNR board.

In Britain, if you think your neighbor is using too much energy and not insulating enough, you can have 'em Hot Mapped!

In Red Georgia though, you'd likely just be wasting your time and money, since most of the infared imagery arising from "geo-rectification" (the process of aligning graphical data on a two dimensional surface so that it accurately corresponds with a map projection system) would be just Republican hot air.

Buckhead Betties and Power Moms

I wish I had a picture... the route I take at least 2X a day through Peachtree Battle over to Peachtree, the one where I pass through on over to the other side of the tracks on the way home, must have more Buckhead Betties per square foot than any other piece of real estate in America!

The droves of ladies along the way are literally all highlighted blonds (like I'd know a thing about that), perfectly fit (sure wouldn't know a thing about that), jogging in the least skanky workout attire you will ever lay eyes on (not a ripped "The Only Bush I Trust Is My Own" tee in sight), and of course prancing alongside a Golden Retriever or behind a MacLaren stroller. It is soooo out of central casting, for some production I hear, that it's a genuine hoot.

I hope to snag some snaps or vid for you soon. Or tool along Peachtree Battle yourself for a stroll these fine spring days. But you gotta catch a sighting now. School lets out soon, and then it's off to St. Simons for the lot.

Sure gets hot and empty around Buckhead starting first of June.

Georgia's DNR Board Count Important - To Floridians

From the Jacksonville Times-Union, about our Sonny stacking our DNR board with developers and builders. Sally Bethea was also on WABE this morning too, with an excellent interview in which she said Georgians surely want more diversity on a Natural Resources board than just developers and building interests. Got that right.

The ouster of three of the most pro-environment members of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources board has critics concerned that the department's mission of safeguarding the state's rivers, streams and estuaries will be compromised.

Environmentalists became particularly worried last month when the Senate rejected Gov. Sonny Perdue's reappointment of Sally Bethea, the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper and one of their main allies on the Board of Natural Resources.

That move followed the ouster of two members of the panel whom Perdue did not reappoint because a 2005 round of congressional redistricting left them in the same district as another board member, the governor's office said. Thirteen of the board's 18 members are appointed according to their congressional districts.

"The board is just way out of balance," charged Gordon Rogers, executive director of Satilla Riverkeeper. "And it's been systematic."

Take A High Priestess Moment

Because we all need to be reminded of our strengths and beauty from time to time, go re-read the Marianne Williamson prayer over at Being Amber Rhea. It'll re-shift your focus for the day.

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Then We Baked A Cake

Aquarium Sunday Afternoon

Had to go pay my respects to dear departed Gasper and Ralph... RIP dudes. You guys were awesome in Atlanta while you lasted, which wasn't very long. Sorry things didn't exactly go, uh, swimmingly for you here.


Fierce beast above does not reside at Georgia Aquarium; rather, she guards my house, a job she takes very seriously.




Note weird yellow scabby stuff on head of one of the Belgugas above. Hope that one's not going to croak soon too. Note new summer purse below found at yard sale yesterday for $5.00. Think I paid too much?

Saturday, May 05, 2007

River Revival Party This Thursday!


Folks, the annual fundraiser and mega-fun party for Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, River Revival, is this Thursday May 10 at Park Tavern on Piedmont Park. Tuesday the 7th is the last day to buy tickets online for the amazingly low price of only $40. (They go way up to $45. at the door.)


Order online here. Let's all party down, save rivers, network, schmooze, eat, drink and make merry at the park... dancing, bluegrass, and even Dames A'Flame!

The Road To Tara


The older I get, and since I am Euro-American I suppose, the more I'm intrigued by Celtic and Druid, pagan history. A news story from Ireland about the discovery of ancient Celtic ruins re-kindled thoughts of frolicking with fairies in woods, with women as dieties. From Buzzle.com:

"A controversial plan to build a motorway through an Irish heritage site has come to a halt 24 hours after the transport minister turned the first sod on the project, following the unearthing of ancient relics on the site.

Archaeologists, who have been campaigning for years to stop the proposed M3 passing so close to County Meath's Hill of Tara, the ancient seat of the high kings of Ireland, were jubilant after excavators found the remains of an iron-age or bronze-age wooden henge, an extensive ritual site with underground passages." More on NPR too.

How close we southerners are to this bit of history, as even our recent converts to Catholicism touch-base with their pagan past by doling out the name "Tara."

This wonderful old YouTubing pagan goat brought an unexpected, delightfully thoughtful moment with his personal, very spiritual tale as well:


Hunting Humans


There's a very fine line between protecting one's property and hunting people down here in Georgia now, thanks to legislation from State Senator Jim Whitehead -- yeah, the same dude who wants to represent you in the 10th Congressional. An NRA fantasy candidate by all means, but this case is not going to sit pretty on our TV screens.

Like most southerners, I'm all for responsible gun ownership, but there's something deeply disturbing about this Augusta case in which an aging homeowner lies in wait to shoot a 23-year old scrawny-looking woman who was stealing anti-freeze out of his garage. (Whitehead appears for a brief SOT in the WRDW package.)

Did the hunter-homeowner even yell, "Hey, young anti-freeze thief.... I'm going to now mow you down like I was out in the woods huntin' a deer!" Disgusting.

Ms. Walker's in critical condition today, Saturday. The shooting happened yesterday around 3am.

And this whole sorry incident looks like one for the 'nets already.

Friday, May 04, 2007

Let The Great SC Dissing Begin

Trust the NYT's Alessandra Stanley to fire an opening shot at my ye 'olde home state. As if I could possibly have expected otherwise. I've been totally intimidated, dissed too, by seemingly scores of Ivy League women, given my dubious education credentials and pronounced accent.

It's really rather pathetic, in a Bridget Jones way. Those Ivy Leaguers of all genders could be so haughty and dismissive, and just kinda mean-girl when we used to rub shoulders in network news.

Then again, I could always drink their lipflapping, snotty, privileged, toned butts way under the table... in my day of course. And dissing SC is my territory, Alessandra. Not yours. Nobody really can do it better, if I do say so myself.

Least I can still go out drinking here in Georgia with whomever, wearing whatever, whenever I damn well feel like it, wearing only a comforter and a push-up bra maybe! Lord knows what the women of Iran won't be allowed to do next. This is sickening here. Just sickening. It knots my stomach in a billion different ways for the hell it implies. No need to wonder why I have always been an unapologetic feminist.

Bombing back to the stone age to free women from religious, nonsensical oppression? Sounds plausible, initially; but if I was for that, we'd have to start here in Georgia, given our own religion-inspired nonsensical legislation.

One other thing before you run away... congratulations to Mara Shalhoup at Creative Loafing for her Best Journalist in Atlanta award last night at the APC awards gala. She really deserves that recognition for being the hardest working, lowest-paid reporter in this city. I hope the NYT comes a'callin' for her kinda talent soon.

Sigh... I fear a total Bridget Jones kinda afternoon coming-on here for real. Bloggers must have so many self-esteem issues. Sigh... Know what could really pick me up though? Anyone got ANY good gossip from last night's APC soiree? Did anything remotely resembling monkey biz transpire without me there to blog it? Come on. The SGR needs some good 'ole schadenfreude-dirt right about now.

Bloggers Rejoice Over 10th Congressional Race

While MSM can do what they want... ignore, pimp, hype, bury... but bloggers are loving the 10th Congressional race. Lemme just dupe over my own PP comment for 'ya here:

Just read the long winded but entertaining article in Metro Spirit. (Is this Augusta’s alt paper?) The dude might be right that MSM won’t bat an eyelash over the 10th Congressional race, but bloggers are sure loving it! Especially when you got a lipflapper like Jim Whitehead (R) spouting off about how his people in the 10th aren't interested in Iraq, only in illegal immigration. (Where did he get that dubious crystal ball from? A yard sale in Clueless Land?)

Heck, the 10th's the only political game in town right now, and political bloggers are the biggest addicts (voters too?) out there. We gotta get a fix some place.

You heard it here first… this election is going to be won or lost on the Internets. A first for Georgia. And I bet it’ll prompt a lot of political wannabee, hopefuls, hanger-ons and established old-timers to do stuff like… learn to operate a computer? Update their static, tired-’ole red white and blue websites? Start blogs instead of denouncing their value out of hand? Pony-up for some DSL? Explore social media and networking sites like Twitter and Facebook and YouTube and MySpace, etc.?

Weirder things (like Bill Greene - the one to now keep an eye on) have happened. Like MSM (led by the blogosphere) actually paying attention to a terrific political show, because guess what… it really is shaping up to be “special.”

Careful What You Ask For -- #872

While surely the best of the political editorialista we have going in Georgia, I must take exception, as does Panda's Keeper, to Bill Shipp praising Maynard Jackson's backroom wheelings and dealings to get South Carolina on the early Presidential primary map. I wonder how Maynard could seriously have felt that South Carolina had much to offer (other than George W. Bush) to the future of the American political process?

But hey, I'm only from S.C. What would I know about who really runs the show 'round there? (Hint: it's certainly not African-American Democrats, most of whom live pretty darn meagerly, and at the very bottom of virtually any national ranking -- be it economics, education, health, etc. So do most of the the white folk, for that matter. Not a power to be reckoned with, needless to say. But you don't need me to tell you that.)

Republicans love 'em a good & paranoid, white, under-educated, manipulatable (is that even a word?) voter base though! How do you think we got all up in the W mess we're in now? Not without SC to get us there in the first place.


HT: PS

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Our Problem Child/Troll Boortz

I'm still convinced NRB is the real deal troll over there haunting John Sugg and co. This video popped-up in Daily Kos, so I'm sure more than a few will be clicking-on now. Can't say he doesn't have it coming, not that it bothers him in the least. As Boortz told the SGR, "So what's the worst that can happen? I'll have to retire?"



I actually overheard Boortz apologizing on-air for his personally unique level of, uh, de-sensitivity shown just after the VT murders. Like anyone's listening at this point, dude. Talk about crying wolf.

NOTE: Isn't it kinda sad that the AJC pays people to blog, but then won't allow them to post videos into their entries. Not even the YouTube videos that are a critical part of the story they're trying to tell. And they turn commenting on and off like it was a freakin' dishwasher. They don't even know how to operate their appliances. Pity.

One dude who does know how to operate a few power items is Rusty. Check out what he and Amber made together. Now that's how you satisfied a lady... more closets!

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Sonny's Do To The DNR Board

Governor Perdue appointed Joe Hatfield, chairman of Fieldale Farms Corporation, to the DNR Board in 2006. He was confirmed by Senator Tommie Williams et al in the same action that excluded Sally Bethea of Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper.

Here's Fieldale’s violations of environmental regulations - about $100,000 in fines for seven different consent orders.

But wait! There's more! Mr. Hatfield was placed on the DNR Board’s Environmental Protection Committee - the most important regulatory committee on the board.

I think we can now safely say... the fox is soooo guarding the hen house.

Executed orders:

Under authority of the Water Quality Control Act (including Surface Water Allocation):

Facility:
Fieldale Farms Corporation, land application system/Toccoa
Location:
Stephens County
Order Number:
EPD-WQ-4674
Date of Issue:
January 29, 2007
Cause of Order:
Sludge spill/fish kill in Big Tom's Creek
Requirement(s) of Order:
Provide interim plan for operation/maintenance of existing pretreatment system to comply with Permit; submit maintenance/replacement schedule for protein conversion cooker; submit spill containment plan
Settlement Amount:
$35808.00

Facility:
Fieldale Farms Corporation
Location:
Habersham County
Order Number:
EPD-WQ-4001
Date of Issue:
June 21, 2002
Cause of Order:
Fish kill at South Fork of Mud Creek
Requirement(s) of Order:
Develop/implement a current and approvable stormwater pollution prevention plan; submit complete, detailed facility evaluation and diagram, by certified engineer; submit written standard operating plan
Settlement Amount:
$10543.00

Facility:
Fieldale Farms Corporation
Location:
Habersham County
Order Number:
EPD-WQ-3732
Date of Issue:
May 30, 2000
Cause of Order:
Violations of Industrial Pretreatment Permit
Requirement(s) of Order:
Submit standard operating procedure for correctly calculating data reported on discharge monitoring reports; develop/submit approvable program for routine calibration and maintenance of flow meters;
Settlement Amount:
$37250.00

Facility:
Fieldale Farms Corporation
Location:
Habersham County
Order Number:
EPD-PCEP-99-120
Date of Issue:
July 09, 1999
Cause of Order:
Pretreatment Permit violation
Requirement(s) of Order:
Correct immediately
Settlement Amount:
$750.00

Facility:
Fieldale Farms Corporation
Location:
Stephens County
Order Number:
EPD-WQ-3592
Date of Issue:
February 15, 1999
Cause of Order:
Spill/fish kill to Big Tom's Creek
Requirement(s) of Order:
Implement spill prevention and containment plan
Settlement Amount:
$10000.00

Facility:
Fieldale Farms Corporation
Location:
Stephens County
Order Number:
EPD-ERT-WQ-3577
Date of Issue:
January 07, 1999
Cause of Order:
Chemical spill/fish kill
Requirement(s) of Order:
Immediately notify proper authority in the event of future spills or releases
Settlement Amount:
$3000.00

Facility:
Fieldale Farms Corporation
Location:
Habersham County
Order Number:
EPD-PCEP-98-075
Date of Issue:
December 09, 1998
Cause of Order:
Industrial pretreatment permit violations
Requirement(s) of Order:
Comply immediately
Settlement Amount:
$3000.00

Information courtesy of UCR.

Map of Online Communities



Me? Bobbing through Bay of Angst, via the Sea of Culture. Full size map from XKZD.com here.

HT: BuzzBrockway via Twitter.

Paid In Full

This song breaks my heart every time. This sad dredging up of old wounds does too.

Ann Coulter Wannabees In The Midst

Prissy Mary is not only a laughable fiction writer (Who still wears tweed suits? Down south?), she's not much more in the non-fiction realm than... Coulter Clone! Dime a dozen.

Too bad PM's a brunette and never went to all the right schools like Ms. Coulter. Her TV talk show-circuit career isn't likely to take-off either since she doesn't travel in all the right, aging male hippie-dominated media circles. Hell, she can't seem to even get out of Stone Mountain to go vote, according to our sources here at the SGR.

Bless her heart!

What Is Going On At The AJC?

So we have a woman, Prissy Mary, who claimed to simply adore diversity, went looking for it at the Inman Park parade this past weekend, found some, and then whined and complained about too much diversity, to the AJC, when she actually stumbled across some.

So naturally the Atlanta blogosphere, many who had also been at the parade, responded immediately, articulately, visually, strongly and loudly. Yet the AJC's response to the response was to run a lame retort from... "Dancing Flowers For Peace?"

I don't think I've been that patronized since, well... dealing with divorce attorneys! Thanks to Sara at Going Through the Motions for the HT to this utter Big Media bullshit.

Shame AJC shame. This ain't no party. This ain't no disco. This ain't no foolin' around.

And someone please, just please lock Prissy Mary in a gated community and throw away the key. And toss Laura Mallory in there with her while you're at it.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Mary Mary Quite Contrary

Mary Grabar = Blogger manna from Big Media heaven. Red, blue, libertarian... everyone and their cousin Ed is having a huge-normous blog block party writing about Prissy Mary today. Could the YouTube video be far behind?

Here's a partial ATL-based list:
Spacey Gracey Review
Radical Georgia Moderate
Peachtree Screed
Peach Pundit
Grifting Through The Drift
Atlanta Public Affairs
Fresh Loaf

The Parade Cried Don't Look Mary

Hey Mary hon, just in case you overlooked something to joy-kill on, here are a few more Inman Park Parade snaps just in. Enjoy!



Photos courtesy of Tom Roche.

Small Minds At Large

Gawd, we grow small minds as well as we do peaches in this state! First Laura Mallory, then this here Prissy Mary. And all she saw was a couple of rinky-dink signs. She must have lost her invitation, and not only her cloistered mind, to Impeachment Weekend.


But not to fret and frown so, Mary hon. Soon it won't be just a few dozen yippies and hippies who want to "impeach" Bush. Looks like the United States military establishment might do all the heavy lifting for those icky dead beats. (Lordy mercy, will that f with Mary's head!)

NOTE ONE: At least when you Google "Inman Park Parade" you get an offering from a blog (this one) before you get something from Big Media. Guess the Inman Park Parade was way too "zany" to be considered good, visually-oriented LOCAL coverage for a LOCAL paper like the AJC, eh?

NOTE TWO: Is it just me, or should people who use the word "zany" in their copy ever be taken seriously?


Now get out there and send Prissy Mary a tee-shirt!