ATL 12/03/07 - Gingerbread

Hanging with the cousins in 1974 (Topanga Canyon) and again in 1979 (Motor-homing from California to Oregon). In the intervening 5 years, Cousin G's hair hasn't moved, my new, superbad, tinted avaitor-style eyeglasses haven't done a thing to downplay my gawky height, and Cousin T's do has gone from Pippy Longstocking to Charlie's Angels. My brother's still just cute.Annual Gingerbread Party - I've made Gingerbread Houses every year since I can remember, missing only last year because of work (in Oh-Hell-Hole). For this year's revival, we narrowed the construction crews down to just the kids (with a little help from engineering and physiology-minded dads and uncles). I'll be taking our little subdivision (3 whole houses) to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, where they sit at the nurses' stations and smell good all winter long.

MOVIE/ART/LOCAL/NATIONAL/FRENCH/WEB NEWS


MOVIE NEWS - 'Golden Compass' and 'Grace is Gone' are out this weekend.

Daniel Craig and Eva Green are both in "Golden Compass" and "Casino Royale".

Daniel Craig & Nicole Kidman are both in "Golden Compass" & "The Invasion".

Eva Green was in "Kingdom of Heaven" with Orlando Bloom who was in "Lord of the Rings" with Ian McKellan who is in "Golden Compass" with Eva Green.

I'm in neither.

ART NEWS -Dad's Garage, "Ask Dr. Frapples", Improv Psychiatry, 12/7-2/22 and

Dad's Garage is also challenging us with "A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant", described as a "...pageant-style look at Scientology is truly outrageous and educational. Come along on the suprise-filled journey of L. Ron Hubbard's transformation from mildly eccentric science fiction writer to extremely fanatical celebrity cult leader."

Horizon Theater, "Santaland Diaries", David Sedaris' island of misfit elves, now playing.

Theatre Decatur is putting on (or are they putting us on?) "Queer Carol" until 12/23.

The National 9/11 Memorial tour will be in Piedmont Park Dec 8 & 9 "in a grassroots effort to help build a lasting tribute to honor the lives lost in the attacks of September 11". Ironically, S & I will be in NYC on those dates...

The Center for Puppetry Arts is doing "The Shoemaker & The Elves", now through 1/6/08.

...and then there's just a ton of stuff going on downtown.

LOCAL NEWS -Vision Nightclub wants to come back...the linked document has details on a 12/4 meeting for community members to express their opinions. Go if you have an opinion!

Here's a land use proposal by Lord/Aeck/Sargent that I stumbled across for developing the block between Juniper/Piedmont and Ponce/North (across from the development around the old "Mansion"). Existing on that block are "The Abbey" restaurant (now St. Paul's Presbyterian, since April, 2006) and the "Gulf Oil Building", I.M. Pei's first official design - modernism in Atlanta. Let's hope those two buildings will only be positively affected by this construction.

In the midst of the mortgage "crisis", here comes another condo project south of the Midtown border: Marquis Vista at Piedmont and Ralph McGill.

And in the dealing-with-drought arena, we have Californians drinking pee.

NATIONAL NEWS -www.slate.com asked the question "Will Dick Cheney need a heart transplant?" I counter with 'why? he's not using the one he has now...'

FRENCH NEWS -Australia ratifying the Kyoto Treaty is headline news, leaving the U.S. as the only industrialized nation not doing so.

WEB NEWS -My new fav online Christmas shopping spot: CB2. It's like Crate and Barrel doing IKEA.

...but if shopping isn't your thing, try noodling this little website. Real? Fake? Movie tie-in? hmmmmmmmmmm...BNL

(Here's a clue...I think.)