Culture Surfing

THE LIFE AQUATIC: Jules (Topher Payne, from left), Barbara (Shelly McCook) and Jo (Eve Krueger)

Aurora Theatre’s comedy boom gives new meaning to the expression “I wouldn’t go out with you if you were the last person Earth.” Directed by Joe Gfaller, boom begins with an unimaginably lousy date that somehow manages only to get worse.

Jo (Eve Krueger), a young journalism student, responds to a Craigslist ad promising a no-strings-attached hookup. Meek marine biologist Jules (Topher Payne), who placed the ad, shies away from Jo’s sexual aggressiveness, and eventually reveals that he’s both gay and a virgin. When Jo asks how he knows he’s gay if he’s never been with anyone, Jules replies, “The non-randomness of the erections.”

Nodding to the aquarium in his underground lab, Jules explains that his examination of fish behavior patterns has convinced him that a cataclysmic event is nigh. He and Jo could end up as the last two people on Earth, although Jo accuses him of engineering a “Cormac McCarthy meets Road Warrior meets ‘Survivor’” fantasy. Krueger and Payne prove well-cast as the mismatched couple, but the comedic action doesn’t quite crackle in the play’s initial section, which unfolds like a “Kids in the Hall” sketch.

Continue reading “Aurora Theatre opens new play series with a boom“

(Photo courtesy Aurora Theatre)

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WHEELS OF FORTUNE: Drew Barrymore (from left), Ellen Page and Kristen Wiig

Drew Barrymore usually radiates high spirits and good cheer on screen, so it makes sense that her directorial debut, Whip It, would display the same virtues. In fact, Barrymore’s film shows more skill and subtlety than she often reveals in her acting, which comes as a particular surprise in a coming-of-age tale full of roller derby players with names such as Iron Maven and Maggie Mayhem.

Juno’s Ellen Page plays Bliss, a meek high schooler in a small Texas town who’s forced by her mother to compete in social events like the Blue Bonnet Pageant. Bliss finds herself beguiled when she sees three bohemian chicks on roller skates glide into a vintage clothing shop and hand out fliers for a roller derby match. Thrilled by the sight of uninhibited women brawling and working the crowd, Bliss tries out for and joins the Hurl Scouts. She’s soon skating alongside supportive tough cookies played by Kristen Wiig, singer Eve, and stuntwoman-turned actress Zoe Bell. Barrymore gives herself the comic relief role as sketchily drawn dum-dum Smashley Simpson.

Continue reading “Whip It’s good humor skates past sports cliches”

(Image by Darren Michaels)

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1) Changing Shoes continues at 14th Street Playhouse.

2) Magic Apron and Spirits and the Melchizedek Children perform at the Earl.

3) Mayoral candidates chat about the arts at the Woodruff Center’s Arts & Culture Mayoral Forum.

4) OvO and Subarachnoid Space play Drunken Unicorn.

5) Digital Leather performs at 529.

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(Photo courtesy Tina Sloan)

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The nation’s top-ranked college football team picked a great time for an off week. The Florida Gators watched Saturday as the world’s most famous virgin quarterback got his clock cleaned.

Tim Tebow lay motionless before finally being helped off the field at Kentucky in a 41-7 win over SEC East foe Kentucky. The senior was later hospitalized and released after being diagnosed with a concussion. We’re not accustomed to watching Tebow receive more punishment than he usually gives out.

He’s part man, part bulldozer – and all nice guy. The former Heisman winner will have two weeks to heal before facing fellow top-10 foe LSU. We’re betting the Tigers won’t be laying off while Tebow takes time to heals.

Here’s hoping Gator coach Urban Meyer allows enough time to pass before letting Jesus in Cleats back onto the field. (Just think of all the children that would go uncircumcised.) Until Tebow is back on his feet, please enjoy the following animated gif. We don’t know how to express our feelings without badly edited images of Rich Brooks and Lane Kiffin.

Continue reading “A Tebow-mas Story: The Tim Tebow animated Gif” »

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1) Drivin’ n Cryin’ performs at Smith’s Olde Bar.

2) Bishop John Shelby Spong discusses Eternal Life: A New Vision at Outwrite Bookstore & Coffeehouse.

3) School of Seven Bells plays Drunken Unicorn.

4) Dinosaurs opens at the Center for Puppetry Arts.

5) Cheap Time plays 529.

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(Photo courtesy Thirty Tigers)

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SECOND COMINGS: The Surrogates (Vol. 1)

“Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.” And maybe even offer a movie contract from Disney. I see Bruce Willis as the mouse.

Perhaps a graphic novel-turned-action-movie doesn’t live up to the usual idea of a mousetrap, unless pop culture consumers qualify as the mice. Nevertheless, the local success story of The Surrogates shows the power of a simple, snappy narrative idea to conquer multiple media. Cumming, Ga.-based comic book writer Robert Venditti achieved his breakthroughs with such speed and ease, he qualifies as the exception that proves the rule for aspiring artists. Meanwhile, the big-screen adaptation of his graphic novel The Surrogates illustrates the kind of creative strengths that get lost and found in translation.

For The Surrogates, Venditti uses a high-tech murder mystery to explore a premise worthy of Philip K. Dick, who provided the source material for such provocative films as Blade Runner and Minority Report. In the mid-21st century, most Americans vicariously enjoy their lives by operating android surrogates. While wearing pajamas at their home work-stations, people link up to younger, better-looking mechanical doppelgangers, living ideal versions of themselves without physical risks. It’s like an extension of the ability to craft a new identity online, summed up in the modern adage, “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.”

Continue reading “The Surrogates leads a double life”

(Image © Robert Venditti)

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Garrison Keillor  appears tonight at Agnes Scott’s Presser Hall. The event’s free, but no tickets have been handed out ahead of time. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and tickets will be given away then until all the seats are taken. The event starts at 7:30 p.m. From the Georgia Center for the Book:

America’s favorite storyteller and for 35 years host of NPR’s “Prairie Home Companion,” makes his first visit to the Center for the Book! He’ll be talking about his eagerly anticipated new novel, Pilgrims: A Wobegon Novel, a delightful chronicle of small-town Midwesterners we know and love, and a book critics are already calling “a modern day Canterbury Tales.” Keillor has written more than a dozen books including Lake Wobegon Days, Leaving Home, Pontoon and Homegrown Democrat. Perhaps this country’s best-known humorist, he also is heard regularly with “The Writers Almanac” on many NPR stations.

(Photo courtesy Georgia Center for the Book)

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BLOCK HEADS: Christopher Chambers' "MAGIC STAR TRAVELER Vol. 1"

On Oct. 2 in Castleberry Hill, a man will interrogate a house plant. Zombie films will crawl along vacant walls. Choreographed dancers will work their moves into the space of a 30-foot box truck. A swarm of cyclists will glow in the night. Up and down Peters and Walker streets, in the alleyways, on front doorsteps, from moving cars, bicycles, and pedestrians, there will be light in Castleberry Hill. For the second time, Le Flash will transform the neighborhood into a massive collaboration of light-based public art. The next morning, it will all be gone.

In the summer of 2008, Cathy Byrd and Stuart Keeler sat facing Tilt Coffee’s front window, trying to dream up a new project. After brainstorming in silence for some time, they turned to one another in a moment of simultaneous inspiration. “The words ‘Nuit Blanche‘ came out of our mouths at the same time,” says Keeler, an artist and independent curator. French for “all-nighter,” Nuit Blanche is an annual nighttime arts event that began in Paris in 2002. The ambitious display calls for artists, galleries, businesses, and communities to work in concert to create a single evening of experimental celebration. Many cities have adopted their own versions, including Berlin, Madrid and Montreal. Byrd, executive director of Maryland Art Place in Baltimore, and Keeler set out to see what Atlanta could produce.

Continue reading “Le Flash burns bright in Castleberry Hill”

(Image courtesy Le Flash)

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Large Reclining Figure, 1984 (LH 192b) reproduced by permission of the Henry Moore Foundation

Learn more about those big, beautiful women now on view at the Atlanta Botanical Garden … for free!

Alston Lecture: Celebrating Moore
Presented by David Mitchinson
Wednesday, September 30
7:30 p.m.

Curator and writer David Mitchinson worked closely with British sculptor Henry Moore from 1968 until Moore’s death in 1986. In this fascinating presentation, Mitchinson will reflect upon the artist’s extraordinary legacy, sharing insights into the world-famous sculptor’s life, artistic process and the remarkable range of Moore’s work.

Mitchinson has curated and installed Henry Moore exhibitions in more than 40 countries, and has published numerous books. Currently, he is the Head of
Collections and Exhibitions for the Henry Moore Foundation. The Philip and Elkin Alston Lecture Series is made possible by the generous support of the Charles Loridans Foundation. Admission is free and no reservations are required.

www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org

(Photo courtesy the Atlanta Botanical Garden)

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One of the most interesting things about Showtime’s “Dexter” is how the serial killer drama has humanized the “monster.” Dexter Morgan has always been an unrepentant mass murderer, never hesitating to slay killers that meet the demands of his personal “code.” Part of the lingering fascination of Michael C. Hall’s performance is difference between Dexter’s ruthless true self and his placid, cheerful-to-a-fault public face.

It may be more noticeable if you’ve watched previous three seasons in a couple of months, rather than years since the show’s 2006 debut, but Dexter’s emotional palette keeps expanding. Initially he dated Rita (Julie Benz) because, as the ex-wife of abusive drug user and a single mother of two, she seemed too “damaged” to put many demands on him. For Dexter, a girlfriend was simply a beard, part of his masquerade of normalcy. At first…

Over the years, he’s become more deeply attached to Rita, her step-kids and his sister Deb (Jennifer Carpenter). Season 4 opens to find Dexter ensconced in suburbia as a husband, homeowner and father to a newborn baby, Harrison — clearly named after his late father, Harry (James Remar). The new season will put to test just how monstrous Dexter remains. Will his sociopathic compulsions consume his middle-class ideal? Or will he split time as family man and murderous crusader, making the show sort of like “Desperate Housewives” with the occasional fetishistic execution, dismemberment and body dump?

Continue reading “‘Dexter:’ Season 4, Episode 1″ »

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Remakes, ports and sequels abound this week. I keep that sentence on my computer’s clipboard, ready to be pasted in every single week. It’s more notable with this week’s lineup of new games, though. The most intriguing titles here — Dead Space Extraction, MySims Agents, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, Motorstorm: Arctic Edge, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days — are extensions or new installments of established franchises. These aren’t Halo-sized blockbuster properties, but never underestimate the value of familiarity and name recognition. We’re living in a world with a Land Before Time XIII, after all. My crippling Turbo-Grafx 16 nostalgia impels me to highlight the new Military Madness: Nectaris remake arriving this week on Xbox Live. It’s been far too long since I last waged war on the surface of the Moon.

NINTENDO WII
September 28 Arkanoid Plus! (WiiWare)
September 28 Drift Mania (WiiWare
September 29 Baseball Blast!
September 29 Bass Pro Shops: The Strike
September 29 Crazy Chicken Tales
September 29 Dead Space Extraction
September 29 Deca Sports 2
September 29 Doctor Fizzwhizzle’s Animal Rescue
September 29 Family Feud: 2010 Edition
Continue reading “Player’s Club: Video game releases for the week of Sept. 28″ »

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1) Netherworld Haunted House continues at Georgia Antique & Design Center.

2) The Pains of Being Pure at Heart play the Earl.

3) Mischief and Melancholy closes at Trois Gallery.

4) NPR’s Garrison Keillor discusses his book, Pilgrims: A Wobegon Novel, at Agnes Scott College.

5) Kirkwood Ballers Club is at Lenny’s Bar.

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(Photo courtesy Netherworld Haunted House)

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1) Atlanta Rollergirls host the final day of the Southern Fried Smackdown.

2) The Minus Five, Baseball Project and Steve Wynn IV play the Earl.

3) Decatur Garden Tour explores 12 private and public gardens.

4) Emory University opens its dance season with … me so much nearer home.

5) The Grant Park Tour of Homes features 13 homes, with a low country boil right down the street at Six Feet Under afterward.

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(Photo by John Ramspott)

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1) Kid Congo Powers plays the Star Bar.

2) Support the kiddies and pick up some sweet deals at the Neighborhood Charter School yard sale in Grant Park.

3) The Sounds perform at Variety Playhouse while the Butthole Surfers play the Masquerade.

4) The Castleberry Hill Loft Tour kicks off.

5) Sunn O))) plays Legends Banquet & Special Events Center.

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(Photo courtesy 2:30 Publicity)

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