All Roads (Eventually) Lead Down South

The Penelope Cruz and Bono (or is it P. Diddy?) romance mystery intensifies! And Mikey Stipey knows all I bet. Power up the yacht, or a friend's, and cruise the oceans of love. From that disher-of-excellent-dirt power duo, Rush and Molloy at NYDaily News:

We told you yesterday how Saint-Tropez gossips twittered over Bono and Penelope Cruz's hand-holding on a beach. We cautioned that Cruz is one of a group of friends on Bono's yacht and that his children are aboard. Now comes further word that his wife, Ali, is also on the holiday.

Saturday night, after partying on Diddy's yacht, the happy U2 family left together, debarking with Helena Christensen, Michael Stipe and John Galliano. Our spies did notice that Cruz stayed behind. She was last seen headed toward Diddy's bedroom, with the rap mogul posting a bodyguard on the stairs.

The next day, our witnesses say, Cruz, wearing the same dress as the night before, turnedup with Diddy at Nikki Beach Club. "She looked very tired," said one snitch. "When they said goodbye, Diddy mouthed the words ‘I love you.'" Cruz's rep denies any romance: "Penelope and P. Diddy are very close friends and have been for five years."

Note use above of lower case "twitter" vs. using the upper case. Good not to ever confuse the two.

Diane Glass

Diane Glass was the girl of her own dreams, and pretty much everything I always wanted to be but always seem to fall short: fabulous, razor-sharp, educated, stylish, beautiful, helpful, friendly, unapologetic, emphatic, dynamic, bold, supportive, uncompromising, forward-thinking, techno-savvy-cool, engaging, quick-witted, a writer.

She embodied the sentiments of living life the way you envision it, not how others mandate how your life should be on more dull, unimaginative, limited, plebeian terms. She really was an inspiration. She graduated Harvard Divinity School, for chrissake.

It's hard to believe she took sick and died, yes, died, all in a three week span. This is shocking. I'm still reeling from the news. I can't imagine what her close friends and family are going through right now. This is one of those times when the cliches about being taken from us too soon really fit. She should still be here. I should still be able to pick up the Sunday AJC and turn to her column first. I feel cheated. Robbed of something. Missing something.

I'd write more about Diane, but I simply can't right now. The only way to stop the tears that just well-up when I start is by walking away from the keyboard. I met her once. I read her work and followed her career like a true fan. And that I will be.

Her obit is here.

Here's a Tres Chicas song for Diane from me:

Chilton Music Project Monday Night!

Chilton (Richard Stewart) and his new funk-soul outfit, ChiltonMusic Project, are playing Smith's Olde Bar tomorrow, Monday, July 30th. Yes, they know it's a Monday, but all the danceable, funk action starts at 8PM.

Publicity-wise, Chilton has been really caught in between the proverbial rock and hip-hop hard place by performing his style of acid funk groove in Atlanta. It would be just great if you bloggers could come out, because it really is a sound, and a sight, to behold. There is something sooooo innately southern about my old friend and former HDTV colleague, Richard. His music too.

Hope to see you there. Also, here’s a cool, ATL-oriented video Richard directed and produced himself. Dude's just got talent on many levels:

8 Random Things (About Me)

These are fun. I was tagged by Sherry to post 8 Random Things About Me. Jessica also tagged me the other day with something similar and I've been procrastinating, so here goes:

1.) I still like John Denver songs.

2.) I won a baking contest once.

3.) I took Home Ec. in high school.

4.) I refused to take Typing.

5.) I studied theater in college for two years, but dropped out for lack of stoners in dept. (Or was it lack of talent? I forget.)

6.) My mother's idea of a suitable career for poor relations, we're talking 1970's, was that of nanny. Bless her heart.

7.) I've worn glasses since second grade. And played sports.

8.) I'm a believer in (and practicioner of) natural childbirth. Chances are, I am tougher than you. By choice.

I now tag Tania and Vaspers The Grate.

Postcard From Paradise

So my pals, The Roches, went to Hawaii and sent back these marvelous snaps. Can you tell which family member is the 80's refugee?

There Was Only One In The Village

Luxury Items

When it comes down to it, I've always been a gadget person -- with very few gadgets. My first sewing machine, an ancient thing I'd found in some crazy relative's attic with a crank shaft, led to the aquisition of something electric at an opening price point from the Sears catalog by the time I was about twelve. I had that thing for years, slowly, slowly teaching myself to follow a pattern and sew.

Most of the time, I simply can't afford the great new gadgets, things I consider luxury items; I just make do with used or cheap stuff, and try to console myself that it's the content one is busy creating that matters, not the gadgetry involved. Even my new DV cam isn't the latest and greatest. It's not HD, so it's merely something that the salesperson was glad to get off the shelf. Of course I'm determined to spin straw into gold with the thing, come hell or high water, but that's another post.

Recently, twice now, well-meaning, kindly folk have let me touch their iPhone. I was immediately entranced, and then pained with a Gollum-twinge of mean resentment when I had to hand the thing back. This has happened to me only once before with a material item (although on more than one occasion with boyfriends, but that too is another post), when a neighbor let me borrow her stunning, vintage, white mink coat for a party, and I caught myself unconsciously stroking the damn thing and plotting ways of somehow not returning it for one more day. Good grief.

But the same feeling of uncontrollable possessiveness came over me with the iPhone. It really did provoke moments of lust and desire when I had it in my grasp. And greed. Lots of greed.

God forbid I drive someone's Mercedes S class...

Brave Sir Rudy Ran Away!

Cue the wandering minstrels, media blogger/guru Jeff Jarvis has this to say about Republican Internets paranoia:

The latest indication of their (R) fear of the internet is their attempt to fink out on the YouTube/CNN Republican debate. The party line — as we see from Rush and others — is that YouTube is somehow biased. That’s absurd. That would be like the Democrats saying that mail is biased because the Republicans made the first, best use of it. If internet video is biased it is a damned bad sign for the right and mighty strange considering the leading work done in the medium by the conservatives in the UK, France, and Germany. Hugh Hewitt frets that listening to YouTube will open up Republicans to cheap shots. That’s merely convenient paranoia. They’re looking for excuses to stay away from this dance.

Full BuzzMachine blog post here. The Tale of Sir Robin here:

Seeds and Stems

Let's get started...

1.) NYC artsy scene comes to Atlanta when Danielle Ganek, with her debut novel, Lulu Meets God And Doubts Him, signs copies of this book this evening. Come rub up on Atlanta arterati tonight at:

Fay Gold Gallery

764 Miami Circle

Atlanta

404-233-3843

5:00 - 8:00 pm

2.) Has anyone in Atlanta seen Once? I keep hearing about how wonderful it is. Happy ending and everything. Don't know if I could handle all that hankie time, but I almost bought the soundtrack on LP, except the thought of actually purchasing an LP at a full price seemed kinda dopey. Even though I still have a functional turntable and still play some of my eighties faves on it, Lloyd Cole and Aztec Camera, shit like that, I just don't need that much retro-authentic. The movie site sure makes me want to see this though. I sense those red hair and black leather tones all over it.

3.) Amber and Rusty are on What Is Goin' On. Yeah!

4.) One day I'm gonna catch this boy sniffing my panties.

5.) The ChiltonMusic Project is playing Smith's Olde Bar this Monday, July 30th. Yes, they know it's a Monday but all the rowdy funk action starts @ 8PM and done by 9PM. Finally, a live show during the week that doesn't start at midnight. About time.

6.) Bluegrass lovers, here's your not-at-midnight gig: Red Light Cafe on Thursday, August 9th. The Deja Blue Grass Band is "honored, flattered, and humbled to be opening for Cadillac Sky, a red hot newgrass band that just might make you have a religious experience." Deja Blue goes on at 8:00 pm sharp, with Cadillac Sky following at 9:00 pm. (Catch a peek at the Deja Blue banjo player on TrueGritz here.)

7.) Heard from Doug M. in NYC. He's up at 5:30am everyday to catch the D train to Coney Island. I know he'd love hearing from some of his blogger homies 'cause I bet he's just a wee bit homesick. Email address here.

It Takes A Marketeer?

I gotta wonder what the Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association means when they start talking about "media." I'd like to go and find out but I doubt I'll make this "lecture" tonight. Maybe some of you can go and report back?

Event: AiMA - Bridging the Gap Between Traditional and Online Media
Atlanta Interactive Marketing Assoc.
What: Lecture
Host: Atlanta Interactive Marketing Assoc
When: Tonight, July 25 at 6:30pm
Where: GLCC

Details and RSPV here.

Free Gorilla Ball Ticket!

Here's a perfect time for Atlanta bloggers to ask for, and receive, membership in the Atlanta Press Club 'cause you'll get a free ticket to the annual Gorilla Ball, where embarrassing bloopers and outtakes from local TV stations and CNN are revealed, but for members only. Some of the outtakes are hilarious, and some just take the total piss out of anyone involved.

Attention video bloggers: send the APC your funny outtakes and see if they will include them in the evening's festivities. But warning, you have to be willing, and have the stamina and inner fortitude, to endure peers laughing along WITH you. And yeah, sometimes even AT you. These local news folks have been doing just that, back and forth with one another, for decades. Builds healthy competitive environments and rivalries, all-American stuff like that.

I'm gonna call Andrew Keen right now and see if he'll go as my date. (You got his number Will Hinton?) I feel I need a man I can make goo-goo eyes at all night long, tell him what a strong manly-man writer he is, what an outstanding reputation he holds in the community, and let him know how much I adored his books I'd of course read every bloody boring word of. I'm feel certain that for my efforts he'll no doubt shower me with enduring affection, loads of money, mindblowing sex, and never leave me nor look sideways at another woman. Don't they all?!

Ahhhhhh romance.

Call Off The Revolution

OK, Andrew Keen wins a round. Atlanta blogger, The Shelbinator, went live on Internet TV during and after the CNN YouTube debate from the Citadel in Charleston last night. Our intrepid blogger took us afterwards, live of course, to the infamous post-debate spin room where he:

a.) wandered around in search of a water fountain
b.) snagged a few minutes with CNN's John King
c.) failed to shove enough people aside to get to Joe Biden
d.) shut down all production to chase after women

Talk about not quite ready for primetime. But Shelby looked very nice in his suit and tie, and we at home got to yell along at him in the live chatroom that uStream.tv provides for the blogger's homies. Don't know if he ever got laid though.

Overall: The cult of the amateur is moreorless as it should be: inmates running the asylum. And having a roaring good time doing so.

Smash Your TV

Atlanta blogger The Shelbinator will be broadcasting live on the Internets from the press pit at the CNN YouTube debate tonight. It’ll all go down here around 6:30 or 7pm.

Crazy Lady

Where do you start with Tammy Faye Bakker? Someones who's, ummmm, captured out attention if not necessarily our imagination for several decades now. How about the end? Talk about your long strange trip. I enjoyed Tammy Faye's chats with Larry King as she was, uh, winding down. Not that she ever really did that. RIP Tammy Faye.

Neville's Ear

"Oh yes. She's a sadist. She's very sick. She's got problems. I think she's been in prison a bit too long. But I suspect even before prison she had problems. She's a racist, obsessed with blood purity. Like Adolf. And she's in love with Voldemort, really."

Delightul interview with Helen Bonham Carter here about filming The Order of The Phoenix, a movie where I imagine many of her scenes were left on the cutting room floor. The biggest problem with that movie was that it was way too short. Another hour should have been added to include the Black family back story alone, something that figured prominently in the book but is hardly the stuff to engage the attention of tweens for very long. Such info, along with that very naughty Rita Skeeter, is all through the last book. (I'm about 3 chapters in, but with a promising rainy Sunday, I imagine I'll be plowing along at a nice clip momentarily.)

I still think of Helen Bonham as a Merchant Ivory princess, dragged repetitively all over Italy by a fussy, clucking Maggie Smith (who never ceases to end-up playing my mother in all her ineffectual-fussing roles) hovering over the scowling Bonham Carter and admonishing her not to play Beethoven because doing so inevitably made her "peevish." To which Helen Bonham Carter would only scowl that much more!

I love that word: peevish. Woe to the young turn-of-the-century woman who was too peevish and moody. No decent husband prospects for her. But whatever happened to that yummy Julian Sands? Seems like he of all people would have popped up in a HP role by now.

Starry Starry Night In Second Life

This is so beautiful, on so many levels. It's little wonder then that Second Life means so much to so many. Bring your hankie.

No Harry Potter Fun

My daughter is seven and now too cool for Harry Potter play. I thought she'd want to put on her Hogwarts robe, that Gryffindor tie & shirt combo I found at Value Village, grab her broomstick and cauldron, and head to Barnes & Noble to commune with likeminded youth. No way. That was soooo last year apparently. This year it's all just that trailer park princess, Hannah Montana. Ughhh. I guess I was really the one who wanted to go check out the scene. Take pics. Video. Blog it. Least I have a few fleeting moment snaps from her '06 birthday party.

Now, she's the child with the real scars, eerily like Harry, her one-time hero. But she's as anxious to have me & her dad read the last book to her as the rest of the world. Still, this is rather heartbreaking, after all it is "opening night" of the last book of the greatest publishing phenom since Gone With The Wind. And now I'm feeling blue. When they say that cliche over and over about how fast they grow up, there's a reason. Sigh...

Nick Lowe Alert

The Jesus of Cool, Nick Lowe, will be on Fresh Air June 24th. Here's one of my fave tunes, one of many. (Lucky person who gets me drunk enough to tell my Carlene Carter story.)

Brogan TV Live Now! (Show's Over)

Blogging Breaking News

Forget the AJC. To many cooks in that pot. To heck with ESPN. Too fancy-schmancy. Creative Loafing? They wouldn't know multimedia if it bit 'em in the ass, which I think it has even tried to do before. (Long story.) Roadkill-minded local TV news? Gag. A magazine story three weeks from now? Do not make me lose it with snorting.

Atlanta bloggers pretty much own the Genarlow Wilson appeal at the Georgia Supreme Court story today. Click here and here. And keep clicking throughout the day for serious, breaking, comprehensive information for thinking adults.

WSB Radio news? Well maybe, but they do news at your basic 12-year old brain level. Fine for folks like me, and you too maybe.

Citizen journalism in Atlanta turns a curve today. (Hear that Prof. Leonard?) Gawd, I feel like a cheerleader! Gimme an:
A-T-L-B-L-O-G-G-E-R-S-R-O-C-K.

The Girl With The Voice

Caroline Monroe sings for your Happy Hour today! Atlanta Brewing Company at 5pm. Details on Caroline's site, as are upcoming shows. Her MySpace site is here.

Streets of Copenhagen 1988

Here's Your Old Media

This video cracks me up. Here's Ava doing a tube-by along the shoreline of a Cox Communications family compound. It's never too early to learn not only water sport safety, but that information distribution is valuable. I love it when I can swing a two-fer on the many life lessons she will learn - from my perspective.



No matter what side you view it from, the Cox Plantation lake landing is quite fabulous, if not a little foreboding. Look while you can though; could be that assets bundled so prettily into one single family's inherited property is something that slips forever into the mist of bygone media times.

YouTube Queen

Wanna impress a bunch of teenage boys? Make 'em a video, of themselves of course, for their YouTube channel. I shot and edited this little number for Drew, and his pal Clayton, while we're all enjoying the hospitality of Drew's mom's (my dear friend Jennie's) Lake Rabun place. They laughed their heads completely off, and must have watched it 6000X already. Talk about an appreciative audience!

My lightening fast skills on Windows Movie Maker wowed 'em so that they now think I'm some kinda techno goddess. Don't anyone dare tell 'em how seriously uncool WMM really is. These boys are serious jocks; they don't need that kind of information.

This shot only on my bashed-up, ancient Sony 3.5 megapixel digi-camera, FYI. Perfect for boating and YouTubing. Under $80 on any electronics auction site.

MSM Visitation

I used to do MSM editorials quite regularly. Not so much since I started blogging, because blogging is simply a more expressive, more freewheeling (my word du jour), more honest medium than the 19th century corset required for mainstream editorial consideration. Of course, lots of people think of blogging as dripping blood on the keyboard for all our knuckle dragging.

Anyways, don't feel like going down the same 'ole same 'ole garden path about blogging vs. MSM. There's a time and place and platform for whatever you need to say nowadays, and that's the good part. Let's focus on that. Here's today's AJC editorial, which is really nothing more than a blog entry cleaned-up for public consumption.

Another Atlanta blogger who excels at this blog-to-MSM process, although his typical blog posts aren't exactly written to inflame the senses, just sensibilities, is Leonard Witt, the go-to guy on citizen journalism issues in his blog, PJNet. Check it out when you can.

LCD Soundsystem

This video sucks (others will love it, but will YouTube kill the rock video?) but this song "All My Friends" by LCD Soundsystem is really great. Old style new wave done up new and just right. The Worst Video For Best Song award still goes to Nick Lowe's "All Men Are Liars" though.

Plight Of The Big Black Dog

The surgeon who, after putting my child’s face painstakingly back together with over 100 tiny, tiny stitches, the previously absolutely perfect face having been shredded by a Big Black Dog (or BBD as they're fondly refered to by the Humane Society worker-type) a few hours before told me this:

Most of the dog bites I (a pediatric plastic surgeon) work on are caused by (black) lab-mixes, likely because they're just so ubiquitous. I’ve come to believe though, in my line of work, that dogs and children just do not mix.

Even in the state of fighting-off-shock I was in at the time, I remember feeling pity for the BBD. The BBDs can't help it; they're simply everywhere, due to humans failing to spay/neuter and carry out responsible dog ownership duties.

There's a BBD named Spud, long departed for the Happy Hunting Grounds, who I will never forget. Really, Spud was more of a M(medium)BD, and he belonged to a good-looking, gregarious, freewheelin' hippie couple who were friends of my own freewheelin', hermit-like, hippie parents in the early 70's.

The sweet-natured couple and their dog Spud had been dispatched, in their VW van of course, to pick me up from summer camp, since my folks, due to I suppose, the typically chaotic state of their own lifestyle at the time, couldn't be bothered to drive north and fetch me home after my 3-week stay at what, at the time, was simply Sheer Wide Heaven, an idyllic refuge from chaos and cultural confusion in the most picturesque mountain valley outside of Summer Camp Central, Brevard, N.C.

How my folks had even managed the elaborate dispatching of this lovely young couple was beyond me; the parentals didn't have a telephone in our house, having determined that telephones were evil devices that furthered communications with society-at-large. And God forbid, other people.

I was miserable and depressed at the idea of leaving my cocooning, privileged summer camp wonderland and being returned to my "real" family on the organic sand farm in the middle of nowhere, where I would mostly trudge back and forth on some ancient yellow school bus, forced to spend most of my precious time amongst the great unwashed, barely literate, welfare-dependent, rotten-teeth and stinking from no running water, shack-dwelling population of Kershaw County, S.C.

No, that was not a soothing thought, and when the couple picked me up from camp that day to drive me the five or so hours back to Nowhereville, USA, despite their cheerful loveliness, I just curled up in a ball in the way-back of the VW bus and tried to keep my aching heart inside my little body someway where no one would notice how much it was hurting.

About 5-minutes into the ride back home in the VW, the black mixed-lab Spud jumped over the seat and curled-up in a soft, warming ball right beside me. He didn't leave my miserable side until we were all the long way home.

All I knew, for all my life, up to the point where I heard my child's screams a mere 10 feet away from me just over a year ago, was that mix-breed black dogs were a heaven-sent source of the greatest comfort a girl could want in a time of need.

Now, I just don't know what I think.

The Order of The Phoenix

Other than pining for a heroin-chic Gary Oldman to ravish me at some grungy bar one night soon, I was rather, ummmm, unmoved by The Order of The Phoenix. Likely had something to do with too many cute flourishes, no doubt meant to provide a bit of relief to what was a very dark book. While filled with tantilizing tidbits, the movie was just not black enough for me, although the costuming on Helena Bonham Carter's Bellatrix Lestrange was quite gothed-out, as was her unhinged, poisoned acting. Needed more Oldman and more Bonham Carter, less earnest teens. Yawn.

Her Name Was Tiffany

As the parent of a child who was mauled by a dangerous dog (but not to death, as happened in the wrenching tragedy yesterday with the Carroll County five year-old named Tiffany Pauley), I know one thing now: this horror, this carnage in our neighborhoods must stop. But how? I'm baffled. I don't really know where to begin. But let me say this much, let's prioritize and start with a focus where it should be: on the dangerous, irresponsible dog owners. Then we can move on to the other problem: dumb, stupid, instinct-driven, very dangerous animals.

Right now, as Doug Monroe reported in the July issue of Atlanta Magazine, as currently on the books, "if you own a dangerous dog in Atlanta, chances are the law is hideously, irresponsibly on your side." In this article, Doug wrote about my own child's case, although I declined to be interviewed for the article as I still find it extremely difficult to recount the details of that one afternoon at Lake Lanier, Mother's Day, 2006. I referred him to my ex-husband and his lawyer instead.

Unfortunately, there is no online version of the "Dangerous Dog" article to link you to, just this utterly useless Table of Contents. (Why no online version, Atlanta Mag? You still believe in the power to distribute a dead tree?)

I urge you to try to find a copy of the July Atlanta Magazine, read it, and send me any of your suggestions on how we can begin to raise awareness (change laws?) about preventing and stopping the hideous mauling of humans by an increasing numbers of deadly, dangerous dogs (and their irresponsible owners) in our midst.

We can't keep turning on the news to hear about another tiny, helpless child's death by being ripped to shreds by an animal that should never have been among populated communities in the first place. It's taken me over a year to begin to even try to write about my thoughts and feelings on this issue, so great has my personal shock and trauma been over this matter.

At least I can now watch a news story about the horror of it all without running to the bathroom to throw up. I'll call that, for lack of anything else, a start in some effort some how, some way, to do something. Whatever I can somehow muster to do that could prevent just one child, one family from going through the suffering we have.

Wilson's Got A Brand New Site!

Oh yeah, this is the good stuff. Lawyer Wilson Smith's brand-new site is live and good to go, a Georgia noteables podcast-interview Who's Who directory. What Is Goin' On is the most timely, comprehensive and in-depth media-of-any-kind offering in Georgia right now, other than a few assorted blogs of course, and the new site was put together by Amber and Rusty.

Wilson is now seriously What IS Goin' On -- in GA and elsewhere. And yeah, I can't resist the temptation to "prolink" (that's my new verb for the new media PR way of "promoting with links") one of my morning chats with Wilson right here.

Enjoy!

Seen That (former) Cox Plantation Pundit Somewhere Before

I don't know why I bother to respond to things like this anymore, because doing so just makes me tired and mad and sad, and just plain kinda weary in the long run. But Jesus H... this CL picture of Tom Baxter (above) is the same imagery I shot and used in a video about a political event in Atlanta -- weeks and weeks ago.

You can re-view that package here if you must. TB at 02:00 minutes in.

As I said in their pretty little comments place, while Rome burns, or writes up tedious, longwinded pieces about the death throes of traditional media (now there's a topic not heard much about 'round the Internets), new media rage on through the night, acknowledged or otherwise.

Snark-Happy In The Morning

This has got to be the worst music video ever produced, and for a near-perfect pop song. Good chuckles abound. And that's the truth.

Channel 46 Rocks

Atlanta's local news station CBS 46 is doing some darn good, local-minded reporting lately. They came first outta the gate with some hard questions about the dubious distribution of the Genarlow Wilson sex tapes, first blogged about by Grift, then today they fired off a piece about the City of Atlanta Water Dept. billing woes we've been having here in my 'hood, Underwood Hills.

Go 46 go... if I ever remember to turn on the tube to watch local news, CBS 46 will be the one I now turn to, rather than the Monica Kaufman-Pearson-Kaufman-Pearson-Kaufman-you-get-the-point show I've traditionally, but very occasionally, flipped to.

ATL bloggers give 'em two thumbs up!

Harry Potter Spoof

Toilet-bowl, juvenile humor at its finest. This is for adults only. Contains seriously partial nudity. Hilarious! LOL at the Snape wig alone.

Rumor Laid To Rest

Ohpuuuhhlease. Jay Bookman is saying it was the paparazzi that killed Bernie's fish when we know it really was Camilla Parker-Bowles.

Spacey Techno Question

If I activate Twitter for my cell, will I now be charged ludicrous amounts of money from Ma AT&T? (I haven't used any texting features on this cell account before, so I haven't purchased any plan that would allow me unlimited texting.)

Two Cool Music Things To Do Tonight - Tuesday

Free ice cream and beer at Decatur CD tonight, starting at 6pm. Knowing all the hipster-deadbeats likely to show up, best get there early. More info here on their blog.

Then later in the evening is cool country music from Jason Isbell at The Earl. More info about that show on Sara's blog.

Let me clarify with a bit of a rant... when I say "country" I will NEVER mean that country-lite Kenny Chesney crap. Lordy hon, don't get me started on the creepy hideousness that is "New Country." Vaguely inspired by Ugly Bobby's recent blissed-out ravings of mediocrity over what is simply really bad music and processed musicianship, I listened to way more than I ever should have of "New Country" while driving around the tri-state (GA, NC, SC) area on vacation. I've never heard so much mediocre, pedestrian, plebeian, manufactured, canned, trite, odes-to-McNuggets (I'm not kidding) and The Wal-Mart-Inspired Life, seriously average, fakey kinda "music" in my entire life. The worst offender was the feeble attempt to lull us all into drone-like stupidity by that nutwrapper jeans-wearing Kenny Chesney. UUUGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH.

See youz guys 'round the ATL tonight.

Lost Point Tour Again

Since YouTube just destroys gorgeous video, I'll post this one again from MetaCafe. (Pardon any porn that appears on their banner ad when you embed a video.) Not that their quality is that much better, but like Blip.tv, it's somewhat better quality. Then again, compression simply creates a compromised product any 'ole way you chop it up. And silly me, Joey was saying "DeLoss Point" all along; his genuine Geechee (White Gullah, if that makes any cultural soup sense) accent has become so thick again, now that he's moved back to Da Lowcountry, I misinterpreted!


The Lost Point Tour - Click here for more free videos

Swoon

Oh my Gawd... how does one wait? The endurance, the ordeal! Four days until Plucky Brit Male Film Fest, otherwise know as The Order of The Phoenix. We've got: Ralph Fiennes, Jason Isaacs (Luscious Lucias Malfoy), Gary Oldman (forever singed onto our hearts as Sid Vicious, of course), David Thewlis, those precious Phelps brothers, and of course, at the risk of sounding like a lecherous old woman, dear Daniel Radcliffe, who will be appearing on Larry King Wednesday night at 9pm. All in one film. Wow. Color me ready to geek the fuck out.

MSM Smackdown

It doesn't matter what you think about Michael Moore. What's delightful is watching him just smack the holy shit outta Wolf Blitzer! Heeheehee!

Lowcountry History Tour

Cap'n JoeBob, seen here on his boat narrating this short South Carolina history doc from the S.C. Intercoastal Waterways, and I used to work together for years in small dark rooms all day long editing corporate videos for The Home Depot. We never got a whole lot of corporate-y work done for all our chronic Lowcountry daydreaming and reminiscing. Bless our hearts, we tried though. Kinda.

Needless to say, Joey made it out of the ATL and back to Paradise faster'n I did. I do get to visit when time/life permit though; Joe and his wife Annie's southern hospitality is as rich and plentiful as their kindness and friendship. Here's a recent outing... in what is now Joey's backyard.

TrueGritz #13

Summertime means... more TrueGritz! Have a peek at a brand new Episode #13 right here.

Ladies' Retreat

Headed north, to Western NC. Another trip sans any menfolk along. The older I get, the more men I seem to jettison along the way. They seem to have faded from my life. By design? By accident? Lack of due diligence? The ones I know well, family members, are no longer interested in much that I am, and vice versa. We all consciously avoid one another for the most part.

I think that the more financially independent women become, then the more superfluous men become. Once the messy biology of reproduction has been achieved that is. A natural selection segregation of gender? Honestly, at this point in time, I don't really miss men in my life, unless I make a conscious effort to do so.

No small irony, this may have something to do with why I continue to thoroughly enjoy the company of men when the occasion arises; rarity invites a greater appreciation, n'est ce pas?

Home

I am so happy here. Coastal SC. It's my home, my heritage, my history. I don't want to go back to Atlanta. Ever. One day I plan to do just that -- never leave home.

Lowcountry Ways

And yeah, some video will be coming soon, filled with tales of nefarious Intercoastal pirates, ruined plantations and the natural wonder of what is the ACE Basis.

Power Down South

I'm going off the grid, moreorless, for a couple of weeks. I want to reconnect and commune with the beach, the mountains, my daughter, and friends and family outside of Georgia. If I can't incorporate such extreme basics of my existence into what I do as I move forward in business and media endeavors, then what's the point? I want to do some serious thinking-on about The South too, about where do southerners come into the Big Picture of a transforming media landscape? And for what purpose?

I woke-up thinking some oddly positive thoughts about one day not prefacing everything regarding The South with those catch-all phrases trotted out in the news about us, such as "lagging behind", "catch-up to the rest of the country", "dead last"... you get the point.

The sobering reality was that I turned on the morning radio news and was immediately blasted a national news story about the soaring infant mortality rate among blacks in Mississippi. This after having just read a long piece in the excellent Southern Cultures Magazine about South Carolina chronically "lagging" (there's that annoying word again) in economic development due to its chronically undereducated populace.

S.C., as futurist at least, seems to be unable to envision an educated populace; thus state government continues to cut education funding for the sake of low taxes. For instance, less than a quarter of the adult population holds any kind of higher education degree, undergrad and beyond. On the other hand, S.C. does have one of the lowest taxation rates in the country. Around 10% paid to the state per resident.

Then there's always race... In a recent interview with the Charleston paper, The Post and Courier, as she departs for Seattle's school system, Charleston's school superintendent, Ms. Goodloe-Johnson, a black woman, spoke frankly about race and the legacy of slavery on the education process in the South.

Q: You've lived in Texas, Colorado and Nebraska. How does Charleston compare?

A: It's by far the most segregated and racist, and I think that's a function of the South, too.

Q: How would you say the legacy of slavery, particularly in this community, affects the school district?

A: I think it had a dramatic impact that sometimes isn't seen. Because there's a lot of times I would say to my husband, 'That is plantation mentality.' And by that I mean that people tend to be too complacent. They sit back and allow things to happen to them, and that's slavery. I would tell people all the time, 'Slavery is over. Nobody is controlling you. Nobody is telling you what you can't have. Don't allow people to disrespect you and tell you what you can't have.' That's plantation mentality, and it's so obvious here. But I don't think people see it.

Q: What's an example?

A: Let's talk about failing schools. We should not be in a situation anywhere where kids are not given what they need because they don't have parents who have voice or who have political clout or come to school board meetings and make noise. We have a responsibility to ensure that poor kids, that black kids are educated well. We shouldn't have the kinds of divides that we do. And that's all about people not having voice. Just think about, if everybody had voice, how different the school district would be. Because people would not have sat back and settled for things. Or, people wouldn't allow for schools — why do we allow schools to fail for 10 years and then fight to keep the structure? Help! I just want to scream! Don't fight for failure. Fight for what's right for kids. Fight for excellence. Fight to be at the table to be a part of the conversation. Nobody is enslaved anymore. This is 2007. You can go and do anything you want to.

The complete interview with Ms. Goodloe-Johnson is here.

With so many regionalized, crushing issues coming into play for The South, who's to say where we go next? Backwards or forwards? I just know it all needs thinking-on from those who can and from those who do -- think about The South that is, and from the social media perspective while we're at it.

The Art of Paige Adair

One of my favorite, local artists, Paige Adair, has new things to show you. I love Paige's work because it captures an inherent southerness so immediately you almost can smell pine trees and gardenia blossoms wafting off her colorized photos.

1st Annual K Mae Art & Stalker Beach
Open House Summer Sale
704 English Avenue NW Atlanta, GA 30318

Saturday, June 23
4-9 pm
Sunday June 24
12-6 pm

The show will also feature the art of Shea Kelly, Rachel Faucett & Kathy Mae, plus Lilybands by Jill Newman

Wanna Go To Mrytle Beach, Matey?

Best think twice about that brilliant idea... here's how Sassy Gordon-Walker (my TrueGritz partner in crimes) recounts her recent visit to beach-hell:

"There was some confusion over which “Dune” we were staying in, and even though we knew we were on the 6th floor, we erroneously decided to check into the Ocean Dunes Hotel that only had three floors. This is what happens when you hit the Myrtle Beach city limits. All common sense is sucked out of your head like a riptide.

After checking into the proper hotel, we head to the room and I’m immediately grossed out when I realize the elevator has been freshly painted. There’s only one reason an elevator ever needs to be painted – to cover something up. And in a beachside hotel you better believe it’s something NASTY.

As we break the seal to the hotel room, I expect to see half-naked spring breakers having sex on the balcony, funneling tequila shots off each other’s asses, with ‘The Real World’ blaring on the TV. Instead we encounter the aroma of parties past - stale beer, sweaty sex & salty cigarettes.

The fact is, beachside hotel rooms in Myrtle Beach are not pampered by their guests. These rooms are rode hard and put away wet. Literally. If scanned by the Dateline black light, these rooms would light up like a circus. No matter the day of the week, every nite in a beach side motel room is like a 1989 Poison after-show party.

The balcony doors are thrown open to air out the room and we promptly head to the hotel bar for an adult beverage. The hazy hotel bar is empty and disgusting at best. The instant we walk in I feel a layer of “sticky” cover my body. We perch ourselves on ancient wicker chairs that have hosted a plethora of half naked, thong-clad asses over the millennium. The wicker barstool groans under my weight but is grateful for a fully-clad arse."

Total saga on 9 White Street, the blog, here.

It's Election Day In The 10th. Draft Wyc Orr!

Is the thought of checking a box next to a Dale Cardwell or a Vernon Jones just not doing it for you as the Democratic U.S. Senate choice from Georgia in '08 -- to challenge Saxby Chambliss? Hopefully you'll have a chance to check for Wyc Orr, a prominent N. Georgia Dem lawyer and former State House Rep.

Jon Flack, founder of the comprehensive GA political blog, Tondee's Tavern (and my sometime partner in Internets communication crimes; he pops up here, in white shirt, and in this video here) has started a Draft Wyc Orr for U.S. Senate campaign. Mainstream media has already taken notice. You can sign the draft Orr petition here.

Jon is one of those amazingly rare types who does not mess around; dude just gets 'r done -- with minimal lip flappage. And he seeks opinion and input from those around him to make any effort of his even that much better. I can easily picture Jon in Washington one day. He'd be an terrific communications person, Chief of Staff-type for any Georgia politician. They'd be lucky to have him.

On the matter of Wyc (Where do our GA politicos get these names: Wyc, Saxby, Newt??? Jeez.)... while messing with live streaming of the North Georgia Democrats' For The People Rally recently, Orr's fiery, booming rhetoric jumped through even the techno cluster-fuck I was totally immersed in at the time. The guy has all the makings of a genuine leader with a genuine message and mission. He makes Vernon and Dale look like school boys by comparison.

Orr seems he could be a formidable challenge to the spectacularly unspectacular Saxby, too. I look forward to getting to know this possible Democratic candidate, and possibly helping do some Internets for him too.

If you're in the 10th, go vote today. For James Marlow. Run James run! Win James win!

Take It Outside

More I think about it, and after reading Jim Long of Verge New Media's post about the power of social media, I really would like to see a pro like Jim take on the likes of that lipflapper Andrew Keen as he, Keen, gets limo-ed around the country to debate, big surprise here, other armchair media lipflappers about his tree-killer, The Cult of The Amateur. Hon, that boy Keen needs to get out on the social media street. Word.

Leave comments on Keen's yawner of a blog/book-pimping preening tool here if you think he needs a bit of calling-out.

Never Met A Rule He Didn't Like

I know this little boy, Andrew Keen, is just a Br'er Rabbit Tar Baby, itching to be thrown into the briar patch so he can sell some books, but ok... let's throw him in and scratch away! The only way to even begin to preserve what only the few really care to preserve at this point, Keen's clarion call to defend the honor of MSM, would be via massive levels of government cultural intervention... to the point of banning anonymous commenting on blogs, apparently.

Really, Mr. Keen doesn't resemble so much the contentious Br'er Rabbit as he does Laura Mallory, a person clamoring to be taken seriously, through benefit of that perceived "unbiased" media lens, by restricting some thing that has become part of the cultural mainstream on their watch, but of course without their permission. At what point did Keen or Mallory become anointed from on-high to go about and do the nation's cultural morality business? There is garden-variety narcissist; then there are these culture-sensibility clowns.

As we head to the July 11 premier of The Order of The Phoenix, let us not forget that Umbridge-esque behavior, that hyper-zealous drive to preserve a crumbling status quo, will drive people not only to despair, but to desperate action. To write laughably outrageous books as well.

Judith Owen Sings "In My Father's Voice"

That Thing That Chicken Does

How To Talk To Your Child About Rednecks

Riding along in the car yesterday...

Kid: "Mom, what's a redneck?"

Mom (me): "Hmmm, let's see. A redneck is a derogatory term, for the most part. One people use to describe a person, a southerner, who talks slow and sounds dumb when they do. Doesn't necessarily mean they're dumb, just that they sure sound like it whenever they open their mouth. Or a redneck can be used to describe people who live in the country, and, uh, don't go to fancy restaurants all the time like we do in Atlanta. They don't have Whole Foods on every corner... stuff like that."

Silence from backseat. Then...

Kid, very indignant, near tears: "Well, Grammy (my mother) lives in the country and she's not dumb! She used to teach school!"

Me: "Yeah, she shops at Whole Foods too."

Another long silence...

Kid: "I don't think I know any rednecks."

Sometimes, it's best just to say nothing.

Throw Another Celeb On The Fire

Reason #67,361 why we hate celebrities: They really must seriously believe they're in control of something.

There Is No Freedom -- From Paranoia

Or just laugh your ass off and be the best machine feeder you can be!

You Might Be A Journalist If...

... the House Judiciary Committee says you are, not The Media, whoever the f they are nowadays. From the Washington Post:

Many media organizations have favored a narrow law on the theory that a federal shield law could garner sufficient support only if it applied a limited group of people. The Senate bills of the past several years reflected that view, defining a "journalist" as a person who "for financial gain or livelihood" is engaged in newsgathering or news reporting "as a salaried employee of or independent contractor" for one of several specific types of media organizations or another "professional medium or agency." To qualify as a journalist, the organization for which the work is being done must have the "processing and researching of news or information intended for dissemination to the public" as one of its "regular functions."

Although it remains to be seen how the Free Flow of Information Act of 2007 will fare in Congress, the sponsors of this bill rightly view journalism as an endeavor that belongs to all of us.

Weirder Than You, So There

Furthering my long-held belief that fiction writers are all psychotic, here's the saga of one really batty lady. The snake-oil shrinks who encourage their sociopathic tendencies by telling 'em to "write it out" outta be prosecuted.

From today's NYT:

Ms. Albert’s (the writer being sued) lawyer, Eric Weinstein, began his own remarks with the memorably understated line, “Laura (Albert) is a complicated person.” He said she was physically and sexually abused as a child. He said she was institutionalized in psychiatric wards and in a group home as a ward of the state. He said she was in therapy for 13 years with a psychiatrist whom she spoke to by telephone while posing as a teenage boy named Jeremy, an embryonic version of JT Leroy.

By the time the psychiatrist advised her to write, the persona of the teenage boy had become engrained as Ms. Albert’s alter ego, what Mr. Weinstein called her “bridge to the world.” Ms. Albert herself, in conversations before the trial, called JT “her respirator,” an unreal, though entirely necessary, entity that allowed her to breathe.

When Media Die and Copyrights Become Illegal

It might happen. Wouldn't bother me. Maybe a few almost-Pulitzer nominees and their kind, but not me. Fascinating concepts, but this vid could have been made deliciously ominous with better VO and the right music. I mean, if you're gonna spew propaganda, at least make it as Rovian as it should rightfully be.

BlabberMash Update

Not so fast... BlabberMash isn't launching today. Yesterday's announcement was a little premature. Kinda like you used to be way back when, eh? Look for site to go live later in the month. In the meantime, enjoy a little extended foreplay on the BlabberMash YouTube channel. She'll like you better for it. Especially if you win the dough offered in the O-Face contest.

Hmmm... now there's an extra bonus feature Shelby could get outta that chicken costume!

BlabberMash Coming June 15th

"Licking someone cross-eyed is an aquired skill."

Gawd, just wait 'til BlabberMash.com rocks the online video world. Should happen next week, or so says the video grapevine. In the meantime, enjoy a preview of things to come. And come. And come. And come! Multiple O's all around as we head to the June 15th launch.

Fashion Retarded?

Are our young girls so brain-dead, lemming-like, and uncreative that they need a video from the world's top modeling agency on how to make... a ponytail?

Nice Ride!

From the James Marlow For Congress blog:

(Athens) Standing before a group of Tenth District voters and members of the Georgia press corps today, James Marlow offered Jim Whitehead a free ride to a meaningful debate anywhere in the district. In the past week alone, Whitehead skipped two significant debates - the Athens Press Club debate on June 6 and the Atlanta Press Club/Georgia Public Broadcasting debate yesterday.

Who's says politics cain't be funny?!

Gator - Your Days Is Numbered

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- Atlanta, GA. ITP 'necks available fer gator huntin' on the 'Hooch. From Carp Circles Media:

Despite our claim of having no knowledge of the origin of this animal (gator), we would like to show ourselves good citizens of this fair city. Due to our expert handling of drink and high powered rifles, we offer ourselves for whatever duty Mayor Franklin may require. We will even provide the necessary firearms, rafts and coolers.

No matter who is responsible for this menace, and once again we ain't saying we is, it must be eliminated toot sweet! Clean up the 'Hooch so city 'necks can get back on the hooch!

No yuppies need apply.

Summer Morning Tableau

Ain't My Cousin Did That

Ok, 'fess up. Who's country-ass redneck relations are dumping gators in the Chattahoochee? Bet it was someone YOU know!

Beat The 11 O'Clocks: 10th Cong. TV Debate

Techno Swoon

Culture Swoon

I can't even see straight I'm so deep into this pop culture apex: Tina Brown on Princess Diana. Brown's book, The Diana Chronicles, is out soon. I'm positively stupid with anticipation. Get me to a B&N quick! NPR's interview with The Right Reverend Culture Mistress (Brown) on the most dazzling pop culture icon ever (Diana) is here. More yummy online goodies such as a book excerpt are there too.

As if that wasn't enough, Jim Long's "new media style" MSNBC package about how to cover Pentagon global photo ops in seven days is here. I gotta ask... the package is tons of fun, but it really points to the elephant in the room: where's the beef? All that network money for a bunch of glamor video shots of Sect. Gates? Where were the live bloggers with the real news? HINT: on Twitter, maybe?!

NOTE TO SELF: Get better highlights. Pay out the ass for 'em if you have to. Buy hair gloss too.

Think Outside The Keyboard

To Go Tuesday

Couple of cool things happening in the ATL Tuesday, June 12th.

1.) APC hosts a debate for the 10th Congressional special election candidates at GPB at 2pm. More details here.

2.) Peel, an Austin band named for famed Brit music master John Peel, plays Smith's Olde Bar at like... like 8pm maybe. I have no earthly idea if this band is any good; I just like their choice of name, although their artwork/photography of a box cutter with "Let's Roll" written pretty in Sharpie is vaguely disturbing.

Read the definitive John Peel obit from Atlantan Tom Roche (a friend of the original Peel) here. This obit is marvelous; originally published in Stomp & Stammer.

HT: C&T

Bloggers Just Rock! Do It On Live Small TV

We made a little Georgia politico-techno mashup history yesterday at the For The People rally with those wacky N. Georgia Dems. Managed to stream the event live via broadband for the whole freakin' planet. I can safely say we were the first to bring Dale Cardwell (below) to a global audience.

(At one point, we had 36 viewers watching!) Blog for Democracy live-blogged the event, and has some great snaps of the production team, complete with one producer and her fat butt.

Ustream.tv, the online service we used to make the rally live, has simply amazing customer service. They weren't able to help us get that annoying hum outta the line (that was on my end, and Lordy knows the Verge New Media staff was generously calling-in expertise and time to help too), but they were there, live, to email back and forth with and take our calls. What a company! They've got extraordinary vision for the future AND amazing, responsive customer service. Snap the heck outta some shares if they ever go public.

And the audio booth dude at the Georgia Mountains Center there in Gainseville was just as kind and patient with us bloggers as anyone could ever be, which is considerable when you think of how many backs have, quite literally, been turned dismissively on some of us as soon as we dare say, "I blog." Thanks so much, master audio dude, for helping us patch-in.

A fine, seriously NEW media time was had by all! Thanks to GAPN for posting the release today too.

My Morning Cappuccino

Faulkner Was A Cartoonist

Who knew? Guess Mike Luckovich squirrels away such juicy tidbits, but not me. From Ole Miss' Center for the Study of Southern Culture (where, when I'm finished channeling Rupert and Ted, I hope to retire quietly for a civilized course of study; there or UNC's southern studies program. Have yet to decide between the two. But I've got miles to go before I rest with such academic indulgences)... Anyways, back to the quote at hand:

Prior to the beginning of his career as a novelist, Faulkner as visual artist was already bringing together some of the issues of sexuality he would probe so deeply in his fiction: the male “gaze” as a form of sexual objectification, the “blackness” of sexual mystery, the interaction of heterosexual and same-sex dynamics.

Not only does Faulkner explore multiple forms of sexuality throughout his work, he also studies their implications within various social, economic, and racial concerns. Quentin Compson’s obsession over decaying social standards in The Sound and the Fury is complicated by the incestuous desires seemingly designed to purify what he regards as sexual violation.

Read more prime yadayadayayda here. If you want to geek-out in what must surely be world's geekiest of literary geek fests, this year's "Faulkner's Sexualities" Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference is July 22-26, 2007. More info on that gem here. I can only imagine the sort who arrive at these sort of things, gauche rolly luggage in hand. And we wonder why Faulkner pondered female indifference too...

Seeds and Stems for June 8, 2007

1.) I liked moderating. I really did.

2.) Amber's APC Flickr stream from last night's event is here.

3.) The head of the German Newspaper Publishers Association says only real journalists can commit real journalism. Such amazing dino-speak makes me think of someone telling Amber only professional strippers can pole dance. That story here from BuzzMachine. (Or straight from the ass' mouth if you read German.)

4.) Take Grift's little quickie quiz to find out if you've got that traditional journalist right stuff. Results may shock you.

5.) Mark your calendar for old Atlanta fogey reunion show, for a good cause: a variety of (thoroughly grey) Atlanta musicians, including Jeff Calder and Bob Elsey of The Swimming Pool Qs and Tom Gray of Delta Moon and formerly of The Brains, will perform at the Mark Richardson Memorial Benefit Concert Saturday, June 16, at Club 29 in Decatur, with proceeds going to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. (Peruse photos here for ideas on what to wear.)

6.) Oddly enough, we survived, even flourished, in this first week on our own.

7.) More than the word "nosh" I think I hate "HuffPo" even more. If that's possible.

8.) Jim Whitehead spent $327,046.59 on what? Keeping his mouth shut?

Shout-Out To MY Social Network Peeps

I wish I had thought at the event last night (see below entry) to point out that not only do I read my social network peeps' blogs before I read "real news" (and I was able to make that point at least), but that these blogs matter to me in the greatest way possible because they ARE... my social network.

And we all know, no newspaper or TV station or magazine can really rival a person's unique social network... no matter what the age or the generation. And when these media outlets (and investors?) understand that, then we can all move forward, kindasortamaybe, together. But the peeps always go first.

That bring me to another point I must make... I can't begin to tell you what it meant to me to be standing nervously at the front of a room filled with all kinds of writers and old media and journalists and PR folk, and be able to see my social media support team right there in the front row. That is simply immeasurably value that goes so deeply beyond the incessant "monetization of blogs" yadayadayada.

Then again, it can always be measured in the value we place in the bonds of strong friendship.

Thank you guys. Y'all being there meant the world to me, and was the reason the event was so successful. Here's that blogroll that's worth anyone's daily drop-in:

Being Amber Rhea
Radical Georgia Moderate
Drifting Through The Grift
My Urban Report
Narcissistic Graffiti
Going Through The Motions

Atlanta Press Club New Media Podcast

The podcast is here for last night's Atlanta Press Club event. Many folks enjoyed a lively, very open, un-conference style discussion about all-things-new-media. We barely scratched the surface. Fortunately, APC will be holding a series of discussions on New Media in media.

Southern IQ Test

(I love these things!)

1. Calculate the smallest limb diameter on a persimmon tree that will support a 10 pound possum.

2. Which of the following cars will rust out the quickest when placed on blocks in your front yard? 66 Ford Fairlane, 69 Chevrolet Chevelle, 64Pontiac GTO?

3. If your uncle builds a still that operates at a capacity of 20 gallons of shine per hour, how many car radiators are necessary to condense the product?

4. A pulpwood cutter has a chain saw that operates at 2700 rpm. The density of the pine trees in a plot to be harvested is 470 per acre. The plot is 2.3acres in size. The average tree diameter is 14 inches. How many BudweiserTallboys will it take to cut the trees?

5. If every old refrigerator in the state vented a charge of R-12 simultaneously, what would be the decrease in the ozone layer?

6. A front porch is constructed of 2x8 pine on 24-inch centers with a fieldrock foundation. The span is 8 feet and the porch length is 16 feet. The porch floor is 1 inch rough sawn pine. When the porch collapses, how manyhound dogs will be killed?

7. A man owns an Tennessee house and 3.7 acres of land in a hollow with anaverage slope of 15%. The man has 5 children. Can each of the children place a mobile home on the man's land?

8. A 2-ton pulpwood truck is overloaded and proceeding 900 yards down asteep grade on a secondary road at 45 mph. The brakes fail. Given the average traffic loading of secondary roads, what are the chances that it will strike a vehicle that has a muffler?

9. A coal mine operates a NFPA Class 1, Division 2 Hazardous Area. The mine employs 120 miners per shift. A gas warning is issued at the beginning of 3rd shift. How many cartons of unfiltered Camels will be smoked during theshift?

10. At a reduction in gene pool variability rate of 7.5% per generation, how long will it take a town that has been bypassed by the interstate to breed a country-western singer ?

Eighties Style

Jim Long's 80's hair (see Twitter) inspired me.

Above: with my dearly beloved Daze

Above: Hanging at Cath's. When our 1st lives were as good as any 2nd.

Above: off to Six Flags, 1983