PopSmart

In its 37th year, the INMAN PARK FESTIVAL still meets the criteria of a block party. It’s a neighborhood celebration that overtakes the streets for no reason other than to congregate and have a good time. But over the past few decades, the festival has tremendously elaborated on the original definition. It now offers art from more than 100 local artists, a kids’ area, a dance festival, a tour of homes, music performed on three different stages (bringing the party into the night), and a highly acclaimed offbeat parade, this year featuring Mayor Shirley Franklin as parade grand marshal. Enjoy the extras Sat.-Sun., APRIL 26-27, but as tradition dictates, celebrate with your neighbors for no reason other than for fun. Free-$20. Fri., noon-4 p.m. (tour of homes only); Sat., 11 a.m. — 10 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m. — 7 p.m. Inman Park. 770-242-4895. www.inmanparkfestival.org.

— Wendi Jonassen

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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1) Eclectic Inman Park Fest kicks off its weekend festivities.

2) Marriage of Figaro opens at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.

3) Irama Dance and Music Fest is at Eyedrum Music & Art Gallery.

4) The 2008 Tour de Georgia races into Centennial Olympic Park.

5) Charleston’s Prioleau Alexander’s discusses You Want Fries with That? A White-Collar Burnout Experiences Life at Minimum Wage at A Cappella Books.

(Photo Joeff Davis)

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My ‘Hollywood Product’ review of Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay will appear in next week’s print edition of Creative Loafing. Since the film opens today, we’ve put the piece on-line already. For an accelerated but surprisingly accurate summation of the film, check out this clip, which encompasses nearly all the major scenes, based solely on a certain kind of verbiage:

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After I saw The Little Dog Laughed last week at Theatre in the Square (where the showbiz satire has been extended through May 11), I was thinking that you could call LaLa Cochran’s hilarious talent agent the “Ari Gold” role.

On HBO’s laddish comedy “Entourage,” super-agent Ari Gold emerges as the quintessential Hollywood wheeler-dealer: hyper-competitive, constantly blowing smoke and barking creative profanities into his omnipresent cell phone. Jeremy Piven plays the role to the hilt, but such sharks in suits are far from being original characters. Fast-talking, aggressive Hollywood agents and producers on the big and small screen go back nearly as far as the film industry itself. Ari Gold is just the most prominent and entertaining example in our current pop culture.

Piven has recently been cast as Bobby Gould, David Mamet’s equivalent to Ari Gold, in the Rialto Broadway revival of Mamet’s Hollywood play Speed-the-Plow. Piven would probably feast on Mamet’s macho dialogue, but his “Entourage” association makes it sound almost like stunt casting, comparable to the actor’s voice cameo as Lightning McQueen’s agent in Cars. (”Gold” and “Gould” are practically the same last name.) I haven’t seen Speed-the-Plow, but so many other Hollywood plays have been locally produced, including The Little Dog Laughed, that I feel I may as well have.

(more…)

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I reviewed The Visitor in this week’s issue, and it’s one of those small films with a big heart that features an impressive ensemble acting performance. Above all else, Richard Jenkins gives one of those subdued performances that in some ways is brilliant in its subtlety, as a college professor who has become detached from the real world after his wife dies.

But while it’s a great performance, I couldn’t help but think about how the college professor has become the poster boy for middle-age angst in film. The fact that he drives a Volvo is almost equally cringing, but I digress. (FULL DISCLOSURE: My dad was a college professor for 40 years, so this subject cuts a little close to the bone for me.)

I thought about other college professors in movies over the years, and it’s obvious they’ve fit into neat little “types.” For example …

* THE PROFESSOR AS IMPOTENT FAILURE — In retrospect, I guess I might have been a bit traumatized when I saw Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, as a kid. I mean, what a gruesome war between Richard Burton (as the professor George) and Elizabeth Taylor (his wife, Martha) in the film version of Edward Albee’s stage drama. One of the greatest moments is when Martha starts telling Nick (George Segal) what a “flop” the once-promising George has been as a faculty member — that George “didn’t have the stuff.” Say hello to the shrinking penis! The only thing more horrifying than Taylor’s carping is watching Burton shrivel and fume all at once. “Associate professor”? Ouch! It’s enough to drive an academic to drink, but more on that later.

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Any world premiere by an Atlanta playwright deserves attention, but a triple-header may be unprecedented. The Process Theatre Company is currently running three new plays by Topher Payne in repertory, continuing Fri., APRIL 25, for its THREE BY TOPHER PLAY FESTIVAL: Perfect Arrangement (right) harks back to the government “lavender scare” of the 1950s; Above the Fold explores the stories of people on the periphery of major news events; and Don’t Look at the Fat Lady takes inspiration from the true story of a Florida woman (played by Jo Howarth) who gained so much weight she melded to her sofa. Barbara Cole Uterhardt directs the former, and Process Theatre’s artistic director DeWayne Morgan directs the latter two. Through May 10. $17-$20. Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m. Whole World Theatre, 3rd Space, 1226 Spring St. 404-245-4205. www.theprocesstheatre.org.

(Photo courtesy Process Theatre Company)

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1) Acrobatic street performance group Aerial Angels teams up with the Lost Boys for the Naughty No No Show at New American Shakespeare Tavern.

2) Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band rock out Philips Arena.

3) Rent comes to the Fox Theatre.

4) One-man comedy Blood Type: Ragu starring Frank Ingrasciotta kicks off at 14th Street Playhouse.

5) Santana and the Derek Trucks Band play Chastain Amphitheatre.

(Photo Roger Gross)

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Opening Friday, Young@Heart (reviewed here) takes a can’t-miss subject for a nonfiction film. The Young@Heart Chorus is a senior citizen singing group with a global following, an average age of 80 and a penchant for incongruous contemporary pop songs from the likes of Sonic Youth and The Clash. Feisty but dignified, the chorus members make inherently lovable heroes in the documentary, but at times director Stephen Walker seems to lean towards laughing at them, rather than laughing with them. Particularly in the film’s music video segments, like this clip of the chorus singing The Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated,” the incongruity becomes too knowingly ironic for my comfort level:

Disclaimer: Though representative of the film’s video interludes, the majority of Young@Heart takes a more straightforward approach, and such numbers as the live performance of Coldplay’s “Fix You” can be truly transcendent.

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“Lost” returns (again) tonight at its new timeslot of 10 p.m. on ABC, conveniently moving it out of the way of “The Office” and “30 Rock” for fans of those shows (like me). To get you in the mood, here’s that amusing montage that sums up the show’s three-and-a-half seasons based on a single word:

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Today’s Air Loaf features CL’s David Lee Simmons and WMLB-AM’s Max Arbes discussing the film Priceless directed by Pierre Salvadori and starring Gad Elmaleh and Audrey Tautou. Playing at Landmark Midtown Art Cinema and Lefont Sandy Springs.

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

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(Image © 2008 Samuel Goldwyn Films)

And here’s a funny scene from the movie …

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