ATL 2/11/08 - Mardi Gras

Me and Bro at Uncle Dayne's place in Bakersfield, CA. My namesake was part of the Invasion of Normandy that helped turn the tide in WWII; we lost him in 1997, but not before I got to visit Omaha Beach, write his name and story in a guest book, and come home to tell him about it.

A little different for the blog...S got a new snapshot camera for Groundhog Day, so I actually get to be in some of this week's pics!
Parades - Thoth and Endymion (Bacchus' rival krewe)
New best friends
S wasn't shy about it being his special day.
Mardi Gras Goodies
Bourbon Street

MOVIE/ART/MARDI GRAS/LOCAL/NATIONAL/FRENCH NEWS

MOVIE NEWS - Metropolites! The next two Tuesdays are Oscar movie night at 7:30 in Club M - the 12th is Ratatouille and the 19th is "Michael Clayton".

And in theaters this Valentine's Day, I'm betting/hoping that Doug Liman, the director of "Bourne Ultimatum" and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" doesn't let us down with "Jumper" - "Anywhere is Possible". Hayden Christensen can't act his way out of a wet paper bag, but I'm assuming he can teleport out of one.

ART NEWS - Get Coffee and get Jazzed. 7:00 PM this Friday, February 15th, at the Starbucks at 7th and Peachtree, a certain local photographer would love to share a cup of coffee with you and talk about his Paris photos. Jeff is the featured photographer for February and would be totally caffeinated to see you there!

We are then heading to the High for Friday Jazz (riffing on the Piazza until 10:00 PM).

MARDI GRAS NEWS -

FAV THING TO COME HOME TO-11 messages on the answering machine; 5 from Mitt Romney, 2 from S., who called home while tipsy with important info we didn't want to forget (but couldn't figure out how to jot down? Drunk dialing always works; drunk writing...not so much)

FAV TWISTED ADVICE - You can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning.

FAV GOAL -We're going to try and do all the seven sins...starting with gluttony. 'And when you get through them all?' It's New Orleans...after the Seven Sins, we start on the Seven Dwarves. (We actually just ended up doing gluttony all weekend long...and Sleepy.)

FAV STRAIGHT GUY QUOTE (SAID TO ME) - "If you weren't so funny and so gay, I'd have to kick your ass."

FAV BEAD TOSSING STRADEGY - There's no way I was going to stand on a balcony with a bunch of strangers & scream out 'show us your (body part)'. Too degrading...for me.

But being on a balcony at Pat O'Brien's on Bourbon Street, we had a responsibility to make people do something to earn their beads...so we made the guys do...push-ups. And the girls?

Cartwheels.

At least half the guys wouldn't do the push-ups...and the girls? More than one would rather show us her boobs.

'Those don't work on us! Do a cartwheel!' When the guys did it, we cheered them through it---'1,2,3,4,5...here're your beads...go wash your hands!' Making them get down on their hands and knees in the filth on Bourbon St... isn't that still pretty degrading?

Sure...but only for the moment...not for photographic eternity that a boob/penis lasts on the internet.

LOCAL NEWS -Dogwood Festival at the mall - thanks Atlanta City Council, for chasing culture out of Midtown. Perhaps it's in part due to the DOT closing the exits from I-75/85 to 10th and 14th streets until 2010 - what's the point of having events in Midtown if you can no longer even frickin get here?

2010! 20-frickin-10! In 2010, we are supposed to have spaceships on the way to Jupiter and personal robot valets and iTV's...but what do we get in Atlanta? A new bridge? That...by the way...replaces one that is only 24 years old?

NATIONAL NEWS -There was a tragic shooting at a city council meeting in Missouri. While violence is unconscionable, it's not difficult to imagine being frustrated by repeated attempts to GET THE FRICKIN CITY COUNCIL TO ACKNOWLEDGE A TERRIBLE, UNBENDING, UNFEELING, UNINTELLIGENT public policy.

FRENCH NEWS -Continuing coverage of the American primary elections is front page news in France, describing the neck-and-neck Obama-Clinton battle and McCain vs. The Huckster. How many Americans can even name the French president?