Monday, January 31, 2011
Politics Libertarians: Illegal immigration bill is quite the terrible idea!
Posted by Thomas Wheatley on Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 3:03 PM
Republican state Rep. Matt Ramsey's House Bill 87 — which critics say includes a provision that's eerily similar to Arizona's immigration law — doesn't have a fan in the Libertarian Party of Georgia. The party thinks the legislation could have "catastrophic effects on the economic well-being of the state, as well as in the lives of its residents, if passed." Via a party press release:
As proposed, HB 87 would make criminals of many otherwise law abiding Georgians trying to make a living. The bill makes it a criminal offense by merely “encouraging” an illegal immigrant to enter the state. It also allows almost any citizen to bring a lawsuit against any business, local or State government agency or official by just accusing them of violating immigration law. Further, HB 87 burdens every employer doing business in Georgia with using the Department of Homeland Security’s E-Verify system. [...]One other aspect troubling the Libertarian Party of Georgia is the provision within that allows law enforcement officers to indefinitely detain anyone unable to provide their driver’s license or other "proof" document. HB 87 allows for anyone forgetting their driver's license to be jailed even after release would normally be required without probable cause. It also re-introduces the secure and verifiable document issue, something that has landed the state in the courts as a defendant for the way Georgia tried to use it in election law... another action that could cost the state significant legal bills to defend.
“This bill is a reaction to a poor national immigration policy, and it acts to treat a symptom, rather than cure the underlying illness. That illness is the cost of the welfare state, and neither Democrats nor Republicans are willing to address it,” explained Brett Bittner, the Party’s Executive Director. “Instead, they’ve politicized the immigration issue to the point that we can no longer have a discussion about a solution that works for every Georgian.”
News / Visual Arts / Photos Check out the High Museum's most recent acquistions
Posted by Debbie Michaud on Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 2:51 PM
In 2010, the High Museum held its first ever Collectors Evening — an exercise in curatorial democracy to help build the museum's permanent collections. At the event, which is open to the public, each of the High's curators presents a potential new acquisition. The guests vote, and the artwork with the most votes wins. Last year, the museum made four new acquisitions: a collection of 20 photographs from the “Robert F. Kennedy Funeral Train Rediscovered” portfolio by Paul Fusco; the painting “Thiogo Oliveira do Rosario Rozendo” from Kehinde Wiley’s series “The World Stage: Brazil”; an African art sculpture titled “Ntadi”; and a round-back chair and table from the “Sketch Furniture” series by Sweden’s Front Design.
The second annual Collectors Evening took place Friday. Voters chose four works: Vik Muniz’s “Leda and the Swan, after Leonardo da Vinci” (2009); an African “Elephant Headress” (19th century); Spencer Finch’s “Bright Star (Sirius)” (2010); and Auguste-Jean-Baptiste Vinchon’s “Portrait of Nency Destouches” (1829).
Then the evening took an unexpected turn. From the press release:
After the formal voting, an attendee offered up four Delta Air Lines worldwide business-class tickets for bidding. The money raised through this impromptu auction allowed for the acquisition of the fifth piece, the limestone sculpture “Lamentation” (1946), by American artist Robert Laurent. An anonymous donor purchased the sixth and final piece for the folk art collection, Minnie Evans's untitled painting on paperboard (1968).
Check out photos of the High's six newest pieces below.
Visual Arts A few questions with Corinne Stevie Francilus
Posted by Wyatt Williams on Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 12:51 PM
- Taryn L. Crenshaw
- "Gun Nation Remix" and Francilus at MOCA GA
The conceit of MOCA GA's current Movers and Shakers is simple and clever: let artists who were part of the exhibition in previous years pick their favorite "Rising Stars of the Georgia Art Scene." The connection between these artists is sometimes easy and clear to identify and other times more perplexing. Alex Kvares' selection of Jason R. Butcher, for example, makes perfect sense when you consider the way drawing and color is emphasized in both of their works. Making a connection between the video artist Micah Stansell's selection of Jeff Guy's uncomfortably funny bowling ball sculpture, though, requires a deeper consideration of the themes at play in their work.
The reasons why Fahamu Pecou selected Corinne Stevie Francilus are both obvious and not. Her painting and collage work does some grappling with global politics through the lens of hip-hop culture and imagery, as the best of Pecou's paintings have done, but it isn't interested in the flashy examination of self that dominates his work. Her detailed works emphasize precision over scale, again opposite from Pecou's current style. The most obvious reason for Pecou to choose Francilus, though, is simply that she's a talented young painter who hasn't had nearly enough attention yet.
We caught up with her this weekend to ask her a few questions and see more of her work.
Visual Arts / photography Eudora Welty photos at the Atlanta History Center
Posted by Andrew Alexander on Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 11:25 AM
- ©Eudora Welty, LLC; Eudora Welty Collection - Mississippi Department of Archives and History
Welty's writing and her photography were motivated by kindred impulses: an inquiring nature and a desire to capture what she saw. They also share a strong sense of place, narrative, and character. They catch and fix fleeting moments and the humanity of her subjects. She herself is not actually present in them, but she seems cumulatively present in all of them: a brave, curious, gentle, honest, and ceaseless watcher.
The monumental literary career eventually overshadowed the photographs (Welty gave up photography once the acceptances for her stories began rolling in). Critical appraisals of the photographs all too often include faintly-damning words like “noteworthy” and “interesting.” She herself referred to them as "snapshots' and to a published book of them as a "family album." But I've often wondered why she isn't considered one of our great American photographers. (I think her work is superior to that of Walker Evans to whom she is often compared). Those who are lucky enough to check out the exhibit of newly printed and framed Welty photographs at the Atlanta History Center from February 5 to May 8 will likely agree.
For those who are curious to know more about Welty, actress Brenda Currin will present a one-woman show playing Eudora Welty in the stage performance “A Fire Was in My Head” tonight, Monday, January 31 at 7:30 pm (doors at 7) at the Balzer Theater, 84 Luckie Street. Admission is free.
theater Essential Theatre announced 2011 Festival
Posted by Curt Holman on Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 11:12 AM
Essential Theatre has announced the line-up of its 13th repertory festival of new plays, to be produced this summer. Atlanta actor Theroun D'Arcy Patterson won the 2011 Georgia Playwriting Award for his script A Thousand Circlets. Artistic director Peter Hardy says, "It came as a delightful surprise to us when we learned that two of the playwrights we had chosen to produce were married to each other! Really — we had no idea."
A SLEEPING COUNTRY by Melanie Marnich
Regional Premiere, to be directed by Peter Hardy
Winner of the 2008 Mickey Kaplan Play Prize, it’s a magical romantic comedy about a woman who travels to Italy looking for help with her terrible insomnia. In trying to find a way to fall asleep, she learns how to become truly awake. By one of the award-winning writers of the TV series "Big Love" (and wife of Lee Blessing).GREAT FALLS by Lee Blessing
Georgia Premiere, to be directed by Ellen McQueen
A girl and her step-father take a road trip, going on a journey that takes them across the map of America and deep into their own troubled hearts. By one of America’s best playwrights, author of Eleemosynary, A Walk In the Woods and Going To St. Ives (and husband of Melanie Marnich).A THOUSAND CIRCLETS by Theroun D’Arcy Patterson
World Premiere, to be directed by Betty Hart
A classic new American drama, which tells the story of a prominent African-American family that has reached the pinnacle of their professional success, poised to achieve their greatest triumph — only to face the threat of having it all torn down by the illness of the father and the passions of the past. Winner of the 2011 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award, the only prize exclusively dedicated to the work of Georgia writers.
News Morning Newsdome: The South has seceded ... in Sudan
Posted by Bobby Feingold on Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 10:59 AM
- Wikimedia
- Voting in southern Sudan
>> An astonishing 99 percent of southern Sudanese citizens voted for the secession of the oil-rich south from the north. Tens of thousands of Sudanese are expected to move to the south in advance of the split. Gone with the Oil. (the Christian Science Monitor)
>> The seventh day of protests in Cairo continue leading up to a "mega" protest tomorrow, and police have been ordered back to the streets after abandoning their posts Friday. Egyptian President Hosni Mubara continues to ignore calls for him to resign and even announced a new cabinet on state TV, getting rid of the widely hated Interior Minister Habib al-Adly but employing the regular crew of cronies. Ever heard of bowing out gracefully? (BBC, Huffington Post)
>> Myanmar's parliament opened for the first time in more than two decades following elections last November. The country has been under army rule since a 1962 coup and a military-dominated assembly still has a "crushing majority" in the new parliament. Progress! (Al Jazeera)
>> The "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act" that John Boehner has dubbed a top priority for House Republicans (oh really, not the economy?) will redefine the term "rape" between "forcible" and "non-forcible" to make it more difficult for women to use state money for abortions. The bill also proposes that victims of incest can't get a federally funded abortion unless they are under 18. These Republican men get sweeter by the day. (Talking Points Memo)
>> And finally: Police have arrested 63-year-old ex-Army vet Roger Stockham for trying to blow up the Islamic Center of America, Detroit's largest mosque, after a bartender overheard Stochkam bragging about the terrorist plan in a bar. And proof that only psychos still have MySpace, Stockham took to his profile to talk about the foiled attempt. (Detroit News)
Recap City "Fringe:" Season 3, Episode 11
Posted by Curt Holman on Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 10:27 AM
- Courtesy of Fox
- THIS IS MY ELBOW: Joshua Jackson on "Fringe"
The most interesting things about the new episode, “Reciprocity,” hinge on the evolution of Peter as a character, and how Jackson plays the role. Otherwise, the story felt like the kind of plot "Fringe" (and similar TV series) have done before.
Peter arrives home in the middle of the night, but tells Walter than he never left, a plot point for later on. Shortly thereafter Fringe Division gathers in a mysterious warehouse/high-tech facility to see that Massive Dynamic has mostly assembled the Doomsday Machine. With computer stations and bright lights gathered around a central point, the set evokes similar locations in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Stargate. The eggheads don't know to make the gizmo work but — whoops! — it turns on with ominous hums and flickering lights, simultaneous with Peter getting a nosebleed. Did Peter’s presence boot it up? (With its metal legs, the Doomsday Machine reminds me of the Omnidroid from The Incredibles.)
Events / Sports / Look Mom! Man sets dirt bikers on fire in choreographed chaos
Posted by Jonathan Williams on Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 9:37 AM
- mPRessions
- Nuclear Cowboyz riders in choreographed action
Atlanta native Barry Lather has made a career out of using his choreography talents to create over-the-top productions with pop stars including Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Prince and Usher. Having learned his moves from his dance instructor mother at an early age, he has since been involved with award-winning videos, Michael Jackson’s Captain EO and a Super Bowl halftime show, to name a few. After helping make the inaugural Nuclear Cowboyz a success last year, Lather has again worked his magic on this year’s spectacle of choreographed motocross riders, dancers, pyro and other theatrics. The show comes to Atlanta this on Feb. 5 and Lather took a moment to discuss his career and his part in Nuclear Cowboyz.
Politics / Enviro Ga. congressman: Evolution? That's just as ridiculous as climate change.
Posted by Thomas Wheatley on Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 9:03 AM
First, give U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., some credit for having the backbone to be an occasional guest on Real Time, Bill Maher's weekly program on HBO that often knocks the GOP.
Did you give Kingston credit? OK, good. Now prepare to giggle.
On Friday night's episode, Kingston, as he often does, joined a panel of pundits, politicians and celebrities to discuss current events. The topic that evening was climate change. (Kingston's a skeptic.) For some reason, talk moved to evolution, which the congressman revealed he also thinks is a bunch of hooey. (Delicious quote: "I don't believe a creature crawled out of the sea and became a human being one day." When it's explained like that, I kind of wish one did, as it'd make a great ABC Family series.)
Below's an edited clip of Kingston's remarks. A longer, unedited video of the discussion is available here.
Note: We've changed "fist" — which was a typo, and not a Freudian slip — to "first." Thanks, "harry krishna."
Events 5 things today: Kylesa, Alejandro Escovedo
Posted by Amber Robinson on Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 7:57 AM
- Courtesy Kylesa
1) Savannah metal masters Kylesa play the Earl.
2) Indie rockers Hello Ocho play 529.
3) Poetry Atlanta presents readings by Karen Head and Collin Kelley.
4) Auburn Avenue Research Library hosts the Stand for Peace Summit in response to the escalation of teen violence in the black community.
5) Singer/songwriter Alejandro Escovedo performs at Eddie's Attic.
