PopSmart

Fans of Fannie Flagg know that there’s no replacement for Southern humor. Now take that Southern humor, mix in some social change and add four irrepressible ladies, and you get North Carolinian Dawn Shamp’s debut novel On Account of Conspicuous Women.

On Account of Conspicuous Women takes place in Roxboro, N.C., (Shamp’s hometown) in 1920, and the author’s four “conspicuous women” are more than conspicuous — they’re world changers. Fighting for their rights, their short haircuts and their suffrage in the time just before the 19th amendment was passed, Bertie, Ina, Guerine and Doodle are just the kind of inspiration we Southern women need in an election year.

Dawn Shamp will read and sign copies of her book at the (quaint and Southern) Fox Tale Book Shoppe, 105 E. Main St., Woodstock Saturday, July 12 at 1 p.m.

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The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - Best of Ricky and Dave

American Zombie — A warm documentary look at the unlife of the contemporary zombie.

Batman: Gotham Knight

I Dream of Jeannie the Complete Fifth Season

Jet Li’s Fearless

Journey to the Center of the Earth — The made-for-TV movie, as a companion to the made-for-movie-theater movie, out on Friday.

Left Behind — All four movies based on the Left Behind book series in one overpriced collection.

Monk/Psych Two-Pack — Both USA series had DVD sets come out yesterday, but when one oddball detective just isn’t enough…

The Mummy Two-disc deluxe edition

The Ruins

Stargate Atlantis Season Four

Stop-Loss

Superhero Movie

Wire in the Blood The Complete Fifth Season

X-Files Revelations — Eight episodes of “essential viewing,” in anticipation of The X-Files: I Want to Believe, opening later this summer.

And new and notable on Blu-Ray:

Batman Begins

Drillbit Taylor

The Spiderwick Chronicles

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So it’s that time of year again, when underground filmmakers take their work above ground. The fifth annual Atlanta Underground Film Festival (AUFF) is coming up Aug. 20-24, and organizers recently posted the schedule.

With 18 features and 14 shorts at five venues over five days, the AUFF promises to be film-tastic, and other bad puns denoting cinematic fun.

The festival kicks off Aug. 20 at the Highland Inn Ballroom Lounge with Greg Kohs’ feature Song Sung Blue, a documentary about husband-and-wife Neil Diamond tribute artists Lightning & Thunder.

Other, uh, diamonds on the schedule include, among others, Dan Lamoureux’s geeky hip-hop-umentary Nerdcore for Life and the 2008 Local Shorts showcase.

The AUFF all-access pass is only $35. That gets you into all of the screenings, parties and whatnot for less than a meal for two at Applebee’s. For the schedule, a full list of films and locations or to purchase tickets, visit the AUFF website.

(Photo courtesy Waitwhat Productions)

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Local poet and member of the Atlanta Art Amok! Slam Team, Shannon Leigh, died yesterday, having been in critical condition for more than two weeks following a cave-diving accident June 14. She was 20 years old.

She had gotten trapped in an underwater cavern at Ginnie Springs in High Springs, Fla., when her breathing apparatus came out. It’s unknown how long she was underwater before Mike Woods, a diving instructor, found her.

From the Gainesville Sun:

“I saw a dive buoy but I couldn’t see any scuba diver’s bubbles coming up so I swam over there to the entrance to Devil’s Eye,” an underwater cavern, Woods said. He said his plan was to descend to the cavern’s entrance, but when he got about 10 feet below the surface, he saw a woman’s face looking up at him.

“I realized that she was in dire emergency status — she was pressed up against two submerged logs and I understood my limit,” Woods said.

Unable to rescue her alone, Woods enlisted the help of two other divers and called 911.

At 19, Shannon got third place at the National Poetry Slam indies competition. She was the only woman to place in the top 10. Kodac Harrison, local poet and emcee of the Java Monkey Speaks weekly open mic, said, in an email, “She was so young, so beautiful and so very talented … We are so fortunate to have witnessed such a great talent in our area.”

Here’s Shannon performing her poem “Sudanese Children” on HBO’s “Def Poetry” in 2007.

Her death is a tremendous blow, not only to the Atlanta poetry community, but to everyone who ever heard her read. I did not know her personally, but as a poet, an Atlantan and a young woman, I feel her loss very strongly. She will be greatly missed.

Shannon’s Wishes is a LiveJournal community for friends and fans of Shannon Leigh. People are encouraged to write poems in her memory. For more of Shannon Leigh’s credentials and poetry, visit her MySpace Music page. To donate to her hospital bill fund, go to getwellshannon.com.

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This weekend the Center for Puppetry Arts welcomes Handmade Puppet Dreams III, the third installment of the successful puppetry film festival presented by Heather Henson (yes, Jim Henson’s daughter).

The event features 11 short films by independent puppeteers, including Miss Pussycat and Quintron’s “Trixie and the Tree Trunks,” Jason von Hinezmeyer’s “In Private,” and more. The festival is intended to showcase these artists’ talents, and the puppets performing are all handmade especially for the medium of film.

Handmade Puppet Dreams III is a part of the Center for Puppetry Arts’ Film Series exploring storytelling through puppetry. The screening takes place on Saturday, June 21, at 8 p.m. at the Center for Puppetry Arts.

And for those of you who like pulling strings and putting your hands in things, submissions are currently being accepted for next year’s collection of Handmade Puppet Dreams.

(Photo courtesy Heather Henson)

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This Friday marks the book release party for FORM: Artistic Independence 2008 at Eyedrum. The book features the work of 46 local artists and was put together by the nonprofit company Williams-England (WE) Design. I spoke with Jamie England of WE about the book, the party and the future of WE Design.

Tell me a little about FORM: Artistic Independence 2008.
FORM: Artistic Independence 2008 was an idea for a graphic-publishing project my partner, Marcus Williams, and I came up with after deciding that we wanted to take our company, Williams-England, or WE Design, nonprofit last year. (more…)

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But her long legs live on in dance.Charisse, called “beautiful dynamite” by occasional dancing partner Fred Astaire, was best known as the slinky love interest in the “Broadway Melody Ballet” sequence in Singin’ in the Rain, but she cut many more rugs than that. Here she is dancing in silk stockings in Silk Stockings.

If I could, I’d post the whole movie as a tribute, if only to see her in the upbeat Commie number “The Red Blues,” or to hear her say, “Where is the little comrades’ room?” when she has to powder her nose. She was a beautiful and incredible dancer, and she has no contemporary equal. She will be missed. UPDATE:Turner Classic Movies will honor Charisse with a screening of three of her films on Friday, June 27: 1952’s Singin’ in the Rain (8 p.m.); 1953’s The Band Wagon (10 p.m.), directed by Vincente Minnelli and co-starring Fred Astaire; and 1957’s Silk Stockings, the popular musical remake of Ninotchka that also features Astaire. “Cyd Charisse was one of the few who managed to have it all: a great career, a place in movie history, respect from her peers and a husband who adored her,” TCM host Robert Osborne said in a press release. “My last time seeing her just a few months ago in New York said it all, with photographers snapping pictures of the movie star while she smiled brightly on the arm of her husband of 60 years, Tony Martin.”

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The Fox Theatre is planning a new initiative intended to assist other Georgia theaters in the preservation of their spaces. This initiative, the Fox Theatre Institute, will be presented on July 18 at their conference, “Thinking Outside the Fox,” with the League of Historic American Theaters.

According to the Fox Theatre Institute, there are an estimated 260 historic theaters operating in Georgia today (114 have been demolished in the past 58 years). For the past year, the Fox Theatre Institute has been working with 25 of these theaters, in various cities — from Dahlonega to Brunswick — all across the state.

“The Fox Theatre’s story of survival and success is the catalyst for this movement,” Adina Alford, Fox Theatre’s general manager, said in a press release. “We want to share the knowledge that successful restorations of cultural attractions have the potential to inspire communities and positively effect their cultural landscape. It’s our goal to create thriving communities in cities throughout Georgia and the Southeast.”

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So Atlanta’s favorite cheftestant Richard Blais didn’t win “Top Chef” last night. He’s still a winner in our eyes. And to prove that he — like his food — is not bitter, he’ll be appearing at Wordsmiths Books on Sunday, June 15, at 2 p.m. to discuss the show and sign Top Chef: The Cookbook (in which his winning “Quickfire Challenge” recipe appears) to help celebrate Wordsmiths’ one-year anniversary.

If you’re not up to following even autographed recipes, you can experience Blais’ unique creations at Home Restaurant and Bar in Buckhead.

The Wordsmiths One Year Anniversary Extravaganza kicks off tomorrow with live, in-store music and continues through the weekend with poetry, author appearances — including certain well-known chefs — and more.

(Photo courtesy Bravo)

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The Georgia Author of the Year Awards (GAYA), presented by the Georgia Writers Association, were handed out last Saturday at Kennesaw State University Center. Author and attorney Melody Moezzi won in the Creative Nonfiction: Essay category for War on Error: Real Stories of American Muslims, her first book.

“What makes this all especially hilarious,” she says, in a press release, of her win, “… is the fact that one of the other books nominated in my category was called, get this, Why Be a Christian. I’m sure it’s a lovely book, not that I’ve read it or plan to, but point being, the irony of my win (given such competition and the fact that this was for the state of Georgia) was so not lost on me.”

Other winners include Terry Kay for fiction, Turner Cassity for poetry and Daniel Veach for lifetime achievement. To find out more about GAYA and to see the full list of winners and nominees, visit Georgia Writers Association.

(Photo courtesy Melody Moezzi)

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