ATL 1/07/08 - Back to Compliance

December, 1980 - In movie theaters, Robin Williams is "Popeye", Dolly Parton works "Nine to Five", and William Hurt has quite a few "Altered States".

On the radio, Blondie wants to "Call Me", Olivia Newton-John believes in "Magic", and Christopher Cross is "Sailing".

And on the 8th of the month, Mark Chapman shot John Lennon.

I know it's December because we are all crammed in front of the Xmas Tree. I know we are in front of the Xmas Tree, because I can see the angel and one lonely red light poking up next to my head. ...and that's why people take pictures in front of Christmas trees; visual clues like that help date a photo without the annoying little LED clock imprint. The tree and my uni-brow are screaming "Winter, 1980!"...

...or it might be December, 1981 - In which case, in movie theaters, Tom Cruise is in his first movie, "Taps"**, and both Fred Astaire and John Belushi are in their last; "Ghost Story" and "Neighbors". Dabney Coleman is doing double duty in both "Modern Problems" and "On Golden Pond".

On the radio, Blondie is in "Rapture", Olivia Newton-John wants to get "Physical", and Christopher Cross tells us that is "The Best That You Can Do". Not much has changed in a year.

**I'm not counting "Endless Love".

Baking gingerbread cookies for the firefighters of Station 15
Christmas mayhem

MOVIE/ART/COMPLIANCE/WEB NEWS

MOVIE NEWS - Nothing new of note being released this Friday...out of what's currently in release, I can't say enough nice things about "Sweeney Todd"...

...and for those who can't say ANY nice things about a movie, "Cineprov" is perfect! We checked it out last week - $10 to sit with about 25 other movies lovers and hear some pretty darn good improv comedy about some pretty darn bad movies. We saw "Phantom Menace" and will never see it again (the same way).

Of new releases, maybe I'll be able to catch "There Will be Blood" at the multiplex in Compliance... ha! Now that's comedy!

ART NEWS -Alliance Theater, Sophisticated Ladies - I saw this show on Broadway during my first trip to NYC in the 80's; now it's here at the Alliance January 9 - February 10th. "The jazz composer wrote plenty of immortal songs but never a Broadway musical. This revue, by director Kent Gash and his "Jelly's Last Jam" creative team, imagines a night of sizzling glamour from Harlem's Cotton Club."

When I saw this show open in 1981, it was 50 years after folks saw Duke Ellington at the original Cotton Club. Now the show is opening in Atlanta, and it's 26 years after I saw Gregory Hines in the original production on Broadway...how time flies.

LOCAL NEWS -
I love the idea of the proposed "Capitol Gateway Park" that Atlanta wants to create connecting the State Capitol to Oakland Cemetery. It sure would be nice to open up a scenic view in some way other than by plowing a new road (i.e. Buckhead from 400 and downtown from Freedom Parkway).

In "infill housing" news, Townhomes by Lane Co. is going to shoehorn 41 new townhomes on Monroe Drive across from Ansley Mall. I'm all for infill housing, but not in areas under-served by public transportation. (Or, maybe this is replacing old apartments... anyone know for sure?)

COMPLIANCE NEWS - (I'm back in Ohio on Monday; here are my observations from my trip in December)

Woke up and it's 16 degrees outside. Chatted with the guy scraping his car next to mine; "what kind of a crazy person lives here, anyway?" "me...moving back from Georgia after 21 years...gotta go where the jobs are." Better jobs in 16,000 pop. Compliance than in 5 million pop. Atlanta?

Later that day, he walked into the control room in the plant where I'm working; they eliminated his job at a plant in Atlanta and gave him the option of moving to this one. He took it.

On the way to the airport on the 1st day of winter to catch my plane home, I saw 3 V-flocks of geese also flying out of town.

The local transmission repair shop made me feel a little closer to home. The name on the sign? Tranny Tom's.

NATIONAL NEWS - Out of Iowa, Obama was the lead Dem and Huckabee came out on top of the Republicans...and Britney wins breakdown/basket case of the week (again) while refusing to turn her kids over to their dad; no one had to caucus about that one.

FRENCH NEWS -There is ongoing concern for the actual circumstances around Benazir Bhutto's assassination. Maybe now we can move on from Princess Di's death.

WEB NEWS -I can waste huge amounts of time playing on vectorpark.