Culture Surfing

THE HORSE BOY: Rupert Isaacson (from left), Rowan and Ghoste in Mongolia

Medical narratives often depict ordinary people who turn to alternative healing methods when traditional Western health care fails. Seldom can you find families that go to the lengths of Rupert Isaacson and Kristen Neff, who traveled from Austin, Texas, to the steppes of Mongolia with the hopes of improving their son Rowan’s autistic condition.

Narrating the documentary The Horse Boy, Isaacson justifies the trip early in the film. At his worst, 5-year-old Rowan’s cognitive problems make him the equivalent of “a giant 18-month-old” with poor social skills, incomplete toilet training, and seemingly endless, inexplicable tantrums. Isaacson’s research into shamanism and Rowan’s affinity for animals, especially horses, inspire the father to see if the two in combination could have therapeutic value. He discovers that Mongolia combines shamanic traditions with horsemanship, so he, Neff and Rowan embark on a journey a world away.

Continue reading “Family goes to extremes to alleviate autism in The Horse Boy” »

Bookmark It

Teenage girl in dress sitting on step #309, 1982 by Oraien Catledge

TGIF, the weekend is here! Get some of your workday yayas out at one of these art events. This week’s agenda is loaded with nostalgia, celebrity, and packs some artist punch … literallly. As usual, read on for the rundown.

Continue reading “Weekend Arts Agenda: Broadening your horizons” »

Bookmark It

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON: Thrill-seeking Bella (Kristen Stewart) receives warmth and support from Jacob (Taylor Lautner) after a failed cliff-jumping encounter.

GENRE: Supernatural teenage drama

THE PITCH: To prevent a frenzy for Bella’s (Kristen Stewart) blood, the Cullens, including her soulmate Edward (Robert Pattinson), cut all ties and leave Forks, Wash. Devastated Bella eventually turns to longtime friend Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) to mend her broken heart, unintentionally stoking Jacob’s fiery passion for her and uncovering his true nature. Unable to forget her first love, Bella sets off a reckless chain of events that ultimately sends her on a mission to save a lovelorn Edward.

MONEY SHOTS: Jacob’s lycanthropic nature is revealed when he morphs into his wolven form to protect Bella from an attack by friend and packmate Paul (Alex Meraz). A savage, snarly, teeth-gnarling fight ensues between the two werewolves.

BEST LINES: Almost anything from classmate Jessica (Anna Kendrick) when talking to dazed Bella during a girl’s night out. As Jessica compares zombies to lepers, she notes, “My cousin had leprosy, so it’s not funny.” Best friend Alice Cullen (Ashley Greene) declares, “I have never known anyone more prone to life-threatening idiocy” when she comes to check up on Bella after a tragic prophetic vision.

Continue Reading “Hollywood Product: The Twilight Saga: New Moon“

(Photo Courtesy Summit Entertainment)

Bookmark It

PEACH DROP: Steven Westdahl (from left), Amber Nash, Anthony Irons, Niki Lindgren, Amy Roeder and Randall Harr

The Alliance Theatre’s comedy revue The Second City: Peach Drop, Stop and Roll features three Atlanta actors and three out-of-towners. That’s up from two locals in last year’s Second City show at the Alliance’s Hertz Stage, The City Too Busy to Hate, Too Hard to Commute. At this rate, the Atlanta-themed show may have an all-Atlanta cast by 2012.

Like its predecessor, written by Ed Furman and T.J. Shanoff, Peach Drop combines Atlanta-centric sketches peppered with time-tested material from the famed Chicago-based improv comedy playhouse. Two Chicagoans, Seth Weitberg and director Matt Hovde, wrote Peach Drop and, impressively, avoid the temptation to recycle any of the better gags from last year. Occasionally, Peach Drop gets gridlocked in lame jokes about Atlanta media figures and predictable stereotypes, but the laughs pick up speed in the second act.

As the title suggests, Peach Drop begins on New Year’s Eve in Underground Atlanta, and generally features more holiday-themed sketches than last year. At worst, Peach Drop resorts to Capitol-steps-style namedropping based on current events and local celebrities, such as thinly conceived parodies of Jane Fonda (Amber Nash) or Dagmar Midcap (Amy Roeder). When Peach Drop tries too hard to be timely, like its reverence to the alien lady from the “V” TV series, the spectators shrug. Other times, however, the show hits the sweet spot of fresh, silly public obsessions, as with its musical number about “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.”

Continue Reading “Second City comedy show picks more peaches than pit”

(Photo by Greg Mooney)

Bookmark It

Finally, a bag that fits both your spyglass and a tub of lard.

Does someone in your life need nautical-themed letterpress cards? A charm necklace that expresses the love that pirates need? A tote bag to carry sea-faring essentials?

Then, by all means, set sail toward the Indie Craft Experience on Saturday. The one-day-only event is a mecca for all things knitted, charmed, pressed, and generally hand-made.

There is a small cover charge to get in the door, but the first 200 attendees will receive gift bags that look to be stuffed with some decent swag.

Over 100 vendors will be on hand to offer their handcrafted wares, which are not necessarily nautical themed.

More details, directions, and a full list of vendors available at the Indie Craft Experience website.

Bookmark It

CL’s Chante LaGon and Curt Holman discuss movies opening this holiday season, including Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Road, Red Cliff and The Messenger.

Air Loaf is broadcast weekdays on 1690 WMLB-AM at approximately 8:10 a.m., 12:20 p.m. and 6:20 p.m.

Download

Subscribe to the Air Loaf RSS feed to download each new episode automatically

Bookmark It

1) Radio City Christmas Spectacular continues at Fox Theatre.

2) CL hosts a Very Sexy Pre-Holiday Party at Halo.

3) Camera Obscura performs at Variety Playhouse.

4) Professional bull riders compete at the Arena at Gwinnett Center.

5) Van Hunt performs at Andrew’s Upstairs.

See more Atlanta events.

Bookmark It

SPORTS AUTHORITY: Leigh Anne Touhy (Sandra Bullock, right) coaches Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron)

The prologue to the warm-n-fuzzy sports story The Blind Side plays so well, it’s like seeing a team return an opening kickoff to score a touchdown. A Southern-accented Sandra Bullock narrates an insider’s perspective on the five fateful seconds that cost the Washington Redskins’ Joe Theismann his career. Michael Lewis’ book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game provides the film with tasty tidbits about football machinations on and off the field, but director John Lee Hancock fumbles the rags-to-riches story of Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron).

The film’s early scenes find mountainous Michael adrift in the impoverished corners of Memphis with a crack-addicted mother and no real home. When a Christian school bends the rules to enroll him, Michael attracts the notice of Leigh Anne Touhy (Sandra Bullock), the take-charge socialite wife of a fast-food mogul (Tim McGraw). Leigh Anne whisks Michael to the family McMansion and offers him clothes, a Thanksgiving invitation, and even a strategy for success on the gridiron.

Continue Reading “Sandra Bullock Blind Sides Atlanta”

(Photo Courtesy Ralph Nelson/Warner Bros. Picture)

Bookmark It

Among the winners at last night’s National Book Awards ceremony in New York City was the pride of Milledgeville, GA, Flannery O’Connor. The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor, a posthumous collection that won the NBA for fiction in 1972, was voted by readers as the “Best of National Book Awards for Fiction” in the last 60 years of the event.

Losing to O’Connor in that category were William Faulkner, Ralph Ellison, Eudora Welty, and others.

Colum McCann was awarded the 2009 fiction prize for his novel Let the Great World Spin.

A full list of winners, finalists, and judges after the jump.

Continue reading “Flannery O’Connor wins ‘Best of’ National Book Award” »

Bookmark It

1) Marc Maron performs at Laughing Skull Lounge.

2) Wynton Marsalis and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra tag-team at Symphony Hall for “Blues Symphony.”

3) Emory Dance Company presents Muscle Memory at Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts.

4) Emotional Management opens at Solomon Projects.

5) Urban Nutcracker opens at Ferst Center for the Arts.

See more Atlanta events.

(Photo courtesy marcmaron.com)

Bookmark It

And thank God we’re through. Yesterday was pretty much the end of the annual video game holiday season logjam. Sure, a few titles will trickle out between now and Christmas, but few of them are all that noteworthy. Unlike this week, which sees the release of Left 4 Dead 2 (which is partially set in Savannah), Assassin’s Creed II, LittleBigPlanet’s handheld debut, the second LEGO Indiana Jones, and the Wii-exclusive Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. There’s also the latest in the never-ending series of Tony Hawk games. Instead of working out your fingers, though, Tony Hawk: Ride comes with a skateboard peripheral; because the best way to reverse the rapid deterioration of a long-running franchise’s fanbase is to make the latest iteration cost twice as much as usual.

Continue reading “Player’s Club: Video game releases for the week of Nov. 16″ »

Bookmark It

CL’s Chante LaGon, Debbie Michaud and Curt Holman chat about this year’s Holiday Guide. Dubbed the Regression Issue, the guide revisits our childhood love for toys — with a few grown-up twists.

Air Loaf is broadcast weekdays on 1690 WMLB-AM at approximately 8:10 a.m., 12:20 p.m. and 6:20 p.m.

Download

Subscribe to the Air Loaf RSS feed to download each new episode automatically

Bookmark It

Coolness: Decatur’s delightful children’s book shop, The Little Shop of Stories, won a challenge issued by rock-star genre writer Neil Gaiman to throw the best Halloween party in the United States. Thanks to the success of Little Shop’s Graveyard Book Halloween Party on Oct. 30, Gaiman will visit the store on Mon., Dec. 14, at 6 p.m. (Little Shop shares the honor with McNally Robinson Booksellers of Winnipeg, Manitoba.) Given the popularity of the English author’s graphic novels (Stardust, Coraline), film scripts (Beowulf), prose fiction (American Gods), laundry lists, etc., you might want to start lining up now.

Bookmark It

Vacant space at 479 Edgewood will host the Cheap Paper collective exhibition as part of AXIOM on Sat., Nov. 21.

The corner of Edgewood and Boulevard will be the epicenter of a vibrant arts district this weekend. The first project from the newly founded local non-profit Public Acts of Art, AXIOM: Baby Proof will exhibit art in the Old Fourth Ward from a staggering list of local talent on Saturday.

The Edgewood corridor doesn’t possess the wealth of galleries that neighborhoods like Castleberry Hill or the Westside Arts District can claim. That fact hasn’t stopped event organizers Alana Wolf and Danny Davis, rather, it’s encouraged them. “The whole reason I’m running around begging favors, building out spaces, and working late into the night is to see this neighborhood excel. I want to see what’s in this neighborhood put forward and given a lot of light,” Davis says.

Continue reading “AXIOM transforms the Old Fourth Ward on Saturday night” »

Bookmark It