ATL 11/19/07 - Interiors

Ma, bro and me in front of the Empress Hotel, Victoria, circa 1979. Seeing myself in this (hideous) jacket gives me a warm, glowing feeling; I really loved it and remembering my (apparently misguided) enthusiasm for it seems sweet.Interior shoot of an incredible Va-Hi house...

MOVIE/ART/LOCAL/NATIONAL/FRENCH/RETAIL NEWS

MOVIE NEWS - "August Rush" looks super sweet, especially when compared with "Stephen King's The Mist", also being released on 11/21. Of course, compared to Stephen King, even I look sweet.

ART NEWS -The "Vaknin Gallery" across the street in 905 Juniper has a well-reviewed exhibition of Brett Smith's first show of "Sophisticated abstraction".

In the "food is art" category, everyone appreciates the aesthetic value of a good Thanksgiving Dinner - even us Flexitarians! Don't underestimate the charm and yummy-ness of a good lentil loaf on T-Day.

DROUGHT NEWS - Update on plans for Midtown's newest reservoir -ajc-

NATIONAL NEWS - A report on subprime lending in the New York Times restates what many many media outlets have written about - that minority neighborhoods have a higher concentration of subprime loans, even when comparing white and minority neighborhoods composed of homes with virtually identical incomes.

The obvious correlating factor in this comparison seems to be race, but what NYT goes on to report is that additional correlating factors are lower credit scores and lower savings rates.

Lower savings rates = fewer local banks = fewer lenders = higher loan interest rates.

I live next to Wachovia and 8 blocks from Bank of America - how low should my loan rate be?

FRENCH NEWS - Sarkozy came to town. I heard a nice commentary on the visit (first by a french official since 2001 - before the U.S. invaded Iraq) - "the French were in America when the British were driven out, and the Americans were here when the Germans were driven out. We will always have history together."

WEB NEWS - How magazines make body type even more unrealistic... (link)