Monday, February 1, 2010
News 5 things to do: Monday
Posted by Amber Robinson on Mon, Feb 1, 2010 at 12:00 PM
1) Frances Smith Foster discusses her book, Til Death or Distance Do Us Part: Love and Marriage in African America, at Decatur Library.
2) Cinefest Film Theatre screens Black Dynamite.
3) Smith's Olde Bar hosts We Care 2010: A Benefit for Haiti.
4) Emory University pays tribute to Frank Manley.
5) Wolves and Jackals play 529.
(Photo courtesy Georgia Center for the Book)
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Uncategorized Amazon strongarms Macmillan over ebook pricing
Posted by Wyatt Williams on Sun, Jan 31, 2010 at 7:58 PM
The New York Times is reporting that Amazon has pulled all books published by Macmillan from it's, uh, eshelves. Macmillan and Amazon have been battling over the price of ebooks for most of the year, with Macmillan asking that Amazon raise it's standard price from $9.99 to around $15.
The tipping point in this argument may have been Macmillan's decision to cooperate with Apple's iPad ebook store, where Apple is allowing publishers to set their own prices.
As of today, a number of 2009's best books are unavailable from Amazon, including Hillary Mantel's Wolf Hall and Well Tower's Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned. Books by Roberto Bolaño and Jeffery Eugenides are unavailable as well. Macmillan's books are still available from third-party retailers on Amazon.
Macmillan's website is cleverly highlighting the book Priceless by William Poundstone. Publisher's Weekly said Priceless "presents a readable history of how we are subtly manipulated into paying more (or less) for goods and services—and the research that attempts to explain our baffling and irrational susceptibility to pricing. The idea of anchoring and adjustment—setting an arbitrary number to subconsciously drive higher or lower estimates—is just one of many research areas explained at length."
Considering this in light of the 'pinklisting' scandal that broke out last year, it begs some questions about Amazon's role in the book market. Are they abusing their power in the market? If they can willingly withhold books or obscure them in search results, will that actually pay off for them in the long run? Is this attention to their sales practices overblown?
News Photo of the Day: Wrasslin'
Posted by TL Pixley on Sun, Jan 31, 2010 at 3:00 PM
Academy Theatre was the sight of crazy smackdowns as the Platinum Championship Wrestling Exhibitions explored the fine line between performance art and choreographed violence on Jan. 29.
(Photo by Alan Friedman)
News Streetalk: How does your city's football fans compare to Atlanta's?
Posted by Jeff Slate on Sun, Jan 31, 2010 at 1:00 PM
Nicole: We have more culture. We know who we are. Falcons, uh. We know how to show support. When the Saints were 1-13, we were still who-dat. We keep hope alive. We who-dat, we-dat. When the Falcons are losing there's nobody there. Falcon fans don't know who they are. What they need to do is come on to New Orleans and put a black and gold jersey on. We're from New Orleans. We'll show them southern hospitality. Atlanta is East Coast. Who-dat, we-dat, black and gold in the Super Bowl.
Smitson Brothers: In Atlanta everybody seems to be fan of someone other than the Falcons, where in Indianapolis it's hard to find someone that's not a fan of the Colts. When the Colts have a big game the mayor will actually make it a day, like 'Go Blue Day', and everybody in Indianapolis will wear blue. Atlanta is more of a college town. Indianapolis it's all about the pro football team. There's a city pride with the Colts. The Colts put Indianapolis on the map--like we're a big city, we're important--where Atlanta there is so much more going on.
Issac: Falcon fans are not diehard. New Orleans fans are fans for life. Everybody sticks together in New Orleans. Everybody loves everybody. It's always family. Family first, and the Saints are part of the family. If we tailgate and we have food and you don't, you have food. It's not like that in Atlanta. If I see a fleur-de-lis on you, you're my brother, you're my sister, regardless of race, regardless of anything. That's just the flavor of the city. It's called the Big Easy for a reason. The economy is hard but life is easy.
News 5 things to do: Sunday
Posted by Amber Robinson on Sun, Jan 31, 2010 at 12:00 PM
1) Let Your Motto Be Resistance continues at the Atlanta History Center.
2) Todd Glass performs at Laughing Skull Lounge.
3) Meat Week kicks off at Daddy D'z.
4) Coup de Theatre Atlanta performs History of the Devil at Relapse Theatre.
5) Justin Townes Earle plays Eddie's Attic.
See more Atlanta events.
(Photo by Matthew Brady Studio/National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution)
Saturday, January 30, 2010
News Add It Up: Metro Atlanta's young and jobless
Posted by Thomas Wheatley on Sat, Jan 30, 2010 at 5:48 PM
Percent unemployment rate in the United States: 10
Percent unemployment rate in metro Atlanta: 10.1
Rank of metro Atlanta, among all metro areas, for largest number of Generation Xers per capita: 2
Rank in unemployment of metro Atlanta's 25-to-39 demographic, among all age groups in metro region: 1
Last time the unemployment rate for metro Atlanta 25-to-39-year-olds was so high: 1982
Percent decrease in average monthly wages of 25-to-34-year-old metro Atlantans from 2000 to 2008: 8.8
Percent increase in average monthly wages of metro Atlanta workers over the age of 65 in that same time period: 23.7
Percentage of Americans age 16 t0 19 who were employed in late 2009: 26
Number of previous years on record that such a small percentage of people in that age group were employed: 0
Sources: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta Regional Commission, Reuters
News The Blotter
Posted by Lauren Keating on Sat, Jan 30, 2010 at 3:00 PM
CRANKY LADY, PART I: An Atlanta police officer dealt with a suspected drunk driver on Central Avenue. The female driver was barefoot when she got out of her car. The officer asked if she had any shoes in the car and she said yes, so the officer let her get them. The officer said he walked over to his patrol car and when he returned, "she was still inside the vehicle and couldn't figure out how to put her boots on." She then exited the vehicle barefoot again. She said she was coming from a friend's house in Atlanta and had "like two drinks." A few minutes later, the woman said, "I'm fucked up, put me in jail!" The officer wrote, "I questioned fresh body damage on the passenger side and undercarriage and she said her friend did it."
The officer arrested the woman for DUI/less safe driver. "She begged me to take care of her and not put her in with a bunch of lesbians and said she had too much to drink," the officer wrote. "She was read implied consent for blood or breath, and then said her father was the richest man in Atlanta and she was a lawyer. She said she was always told to refuse." When they got to jail, the woman exited the patrol car and said, "I didn't think you were going to bring me here, I thought you were going to take me to your friend's house!" The officer asked, "Why would I do that – and she said, 'you know.'"
At the jail, the woman "made a comment about wrecking her friend's car because her friend was drunker than she was." The 42-year-old woman hails from New Smyrna Beach, Fla.
Continue Reading "The Blotter"
(Illustration by Tray Butler)
Uncategorized 5 things to do: Saturday
Posted by Amber Robinson on Sat, Jan 30, 2010 at 12:00 PM
1) Let Your Motto Be Resistance opens at the Atlanta History Center.
2) Batt Humphreys discusses his book, Dead Weight, at Eagle Eye Book Shop.
3) Fringe Factory joins the Barreracudas at Spring 4th Center.
4) Silver Scream Spook Show is back at Plaza Theatre with Planet Outlaws.
5) Haiti relief: Vegan Bake Sale at Criminal Records, Create a Reality at CoLaboratory, and Relief Work at 7 Stages Theatre.
(Photo by Matthew Brady Studio/National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution)
News 5 things to do: Saturday
Posted by Amber Robinson on Sat, Jan 30, 2010 at 12:00 PM
1) Let Your Motto Be Resistance opens at the Atlanta History Center.
2) Batt Humphreys discusses his book, Dead Weight, at Eagle Eye Book Shop.
3) Fringe Factory joins the Barreracudas at Spring 4th Center.
4) Silver Scream Spook Show is back at Plaza Theatre with Planet Outlaws.
5) Haiti relief: Vegan Bake Sale at Criminal Records, Create a Reality at CoLaboratory, and Relief Work at 7 Stages Theatre.
(Photo by Matthew Brady Studio/National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution)
