Creative Loafing presents Ed Loves Bacon

ALL DOLLED UP: Anderson's "Dress Up" is one of many featured in his concept show "Only Dick, No Jane" currently on display at the W Midtown Hotel

This year’s Pride celebration began not with a bang but a statement Wednesday night with a conceptual art exhibit at the W Atlanta -Midtown Hotel. The show entitled Only Dick, No Jane is a series of works by artist Larry Anderson that explores the labels and stigmas projected on gay men through light and somewhat humorous concepts.

As host of the event, W Midtown provided attendees with Asian inspired hor devours, progressive music via the house DJ and Pride-tini’s, a cosmopolitan-based martini drink made with Skyy Passion Fruit vodka, X-Rated liqueur and cranberry juice.

Anderson, who teaches art classes at SCAD in Atlanta compiled this series to inspire candid dialog about prejudices which he eludes to in his show introductory statement as “redefining the argument.”

“To redefine the argument is to take sex out of the equation and just have us be people,” explains Anderson. “The whole religious right thing is over the sex issue and that’s such a small part of our lives. When we’re young its not any part of our lives, its about desire.”

In his works, Anderson positions Dick, a primary character in the Fun with Dick and Jane reading development books of the ’30s in several translations of well known homophobic slurs.

Only Dick, No Jane is on display in the W Atlanta-Midtown Hotel mezzanine throughout Pride weekend, Fri. October 30 through Sun. November 1.

(photos by Edward Adams and Lisa Baxter)

In recognition of his tireless efforts on behalf of Atlanta’s children, filmmaker Libby Spears has dedicated her latest documentary Playground to the memory of the late Fulton County Judge, Sanford “Sunny” Jones. The film premieres as part of a memorial benefit hosted by the Juvenile Justice Fund honoring Jones on Tuesday, October 20th at the Woodruff Arts Center. The event benefits the Center to End Adolescent Sexual Exploitation (CEASE) and Angela’s House, an organization that provides home care services to households with medically fragile children. Jones, who served as Fulton County Juvenile Court judge was killed in small plane crash in Alabama earlier this year.

Playground sheds light on child sex trafficking taking place in the United States. The film profiles former victims and provides a candid look at the legal and social systems that fails to adequately respond to the crisis. Playground was produced by actor/director George Clooney, writer/actor Grant Heslov and director Steven Soderbergh, the team behind the Oscar-nominated film Good Night and Good Luck.

Judge Jones helped to create the Juvenile Justice Fund in Atlanta in 2001. The fund provides constructive alternatives to youth detention and programs to reduce the number of children returning to unsafe, abusive and destructive homes.

Memorial Benefit for Judge Sanford Jones. Tuesday, October 20, 2009 – 6:00pm. Woodruff Arts Center Symphony Hall. 1280 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA 30309. General admission $25, premiere and VIP pre-reception $125. Tickets can be purchased online at www.woodruffcentertickets.org or by phone, 404-733-5000.

Disney brought a little taste of Christmas to Atlanta this morning as Disney’s A Christmas Carol Train Tour rolled into town. The seven car train features a museum, gallery and interactive, multimedia experiences.

Passengers on the tour saw personal belongings from Charles Dickens on loan from the Dicken’s Museum in London, original props and models used in the film, featurettes explaining the technology behind the CGI feature film and an interactive photo booth where passengers’ images were morphed into characters from the movie. Outside the train, Disney set up a 25-foot 3D movie theater including snow to watch 10 minutes of scenes from the film.

The Christmas Carol train has been traveling across the country since Memorial Day weekend. The tour started in Los Angeles, CA and will end in a few weeks in New York City, NY. You can find out more about the train tour and its upcoming scheduled stops on the tour’s website.

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Disney’s A Christmas Carol, Rated-PG. Directed by Robert Zemeckis. Stars Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Robin Wright Penn. Opens nationwide Friday, Nov. 6.

SHAWTY WHAT YOUR NAME IS: Snow White greets her new BFF's in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Disney celebrates 72 years of Sleepy, Sneezy, Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Bashful, Dopey and of course Snow White this year with the release of the Diamond Edition of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on Blu-Ray and DVD.

Artists, not dwarfs remastered over 120,000 animation cells to restore the film to a pristine quality better than the original version. According to Disney Animation Curator, Lella Smith, reflections of camera men on individual cells as well as their fingerprints covered the original theatrical version of the film. Smith shared insights about the development of Disney’s first animated feature film in an online presentation about the dwarfs and the long journey animators took to produce the movie.

Ok, so fingerprints and ghostly images may not peak your interests, but here’s a couple of little known facts Smith shared about the film available in behind-the-scene features on the Diamond Edition:

1. Snoopy was considered as a name for one of the seven dwarfs in the film. Other names considered were Wheezy, Baldy, Lazy, Tubby and Jumpy.
2. In early concepts of the dwarfs, they were drawn as tall as Snow White.
3. It took two years to come up with the seven dwarfs we know today.
4. Snow White was the highest grossing film until it was surpassed by Gone With the Wind in 1939.
5. Snow White was the first film to have an accompanying soundtrack released.
6. Snow White and Dopey were motion modeled by the same person, famed dancer Marge Champion.
7. There’s a total of 60-million illustrations archived from the Snow White project in the Disney library.

Disney’s Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs – Diamond Edition. Rated G. Available on Blu-Ray and DVD Tues. October 6.