• Pearl Cleage is an awesome blossom.

Far and away, the scene-stealer of the night was Atlanta playwright Pearl Cleage who read a monologue from her new play What I Learned in Paris. The play, which will have its world premiere as the season opener in the fall, is a romantic comedy set in Atlanta in 1973. The monologue, in which a female character describes a trip to Paris she takes without her husband, condensed so much about the era: hopeful, agitated, excited, uncertain. It was a lovely reading, and we're already looking forward to opening night.

There's also an update on the new gallery planned to go into the city-owned former AJC building. Debbie Michaud has the story on Culture Surfing.

• WIKIMEDIA
• Vintage bowling shoes not pictured

They sport vintage bowling shoes and the latest tech gear—but they also know all the best places to eat and drink.

[Readers] ranked 35 metropolitan areas on culturally relevant features like live music, coffee bars, and independent boutiques. To zero in on the biggest hipster crowds, we also factored in the results for the best microbrews and the most offbeat and tech-savvy locals.

Please say "tech" again.

So, yeah. That's what hipsters are. Got it, nerds? No? Oh, OK ...

Whatever your take, you generally know hipsters when you see them—most likely in funky, up-and-coming neighborhoods. A smirking attitude toward mainstream institutions means they tend to frequent cool, often idiosyncratic restaurants, shops, and bars—the same kinds of venues that appeal to travelers looking for what they can’t find at home.

As for Atlanta, we don't have nearly enough offbeat locals (WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?) and our music scene is just not funky enough. But we'll always have Little Five Points ...

This Southern metropolis didn’t get high marks for its music scene or for offbeat locals. But you may have to know where to look: in the Little Five Points area, tucked alongside the historic Inman Park and Virginia-Highland neighborhoods, you can find tattoo parlors and lots of classic, vinyl records—the latter at shops such as Wax n’ Facts and Satellite Records.

Savannah, on the other hand, is crawling with smirky, counterculture, idiosyncraticals. It ranked 11th, beating out NYC and L.A.

The Pop Traveler, a new feature in USA Today's Pop Candy blog, has posted an article from local blogger Rachel Mason, "Ten reasons why Atlanta is so awesome." Her assertion that "Atlanta residents love the alphabet, because it places us first in almost everything (unless Albuquerque and Anchorage are involved)" is a new one on me, but I can get behind most of 10 choices, which include the Starlight Drive-In, Dragon*Con, The Center for Puppetry Arts and King of Pops. It's a shame she doesn't shout out to the local music scene, though, and maybe "Netherworld" and "Zombies" could have shared a single horrific category. Any chance to mention Run For Your Lives, a zombie-infested 5K obstacle course race, seems worth taking.

Run For Your Lives 2011 from Alexander Turoff on Vimeo.

Perhaps in 2012 we should call a moratorium on the word "awesome," which could use a vacation after so much over use in recent years.

Over on Culture Surfing, arts editor Debbie Michaud asks this question (sort of; she puts it in a more thoughtful, elegant way, as she is wont to do). She basically asks if arts supporters need to rethink how they make the case that arts are a crucial part of a community. It's a good question: as is my understanding, arts funding has been cut in Atlanta recently, and there's not a lot of it in Gov. Deal's proposals. She takes as her jumping off point a recent Salon article that chides arts supporters for how they've been framing this debate. Go there, read it, and let us know what you think. Or, if you're happy sitting on your lazy, uncultured ass watching reruns of Work It and calling that art ...

No? Good. Click here and read, then.

UPDATE: Okay, you probably also just need to peruse Culture Surfing today and yesterday, anyway. Not that you always don't, but there's a particularly large amount of great news on the site right now: media stuff, interviews with former Blair Witch girls who've been prescribed marijuana because of PMS (not a joke), lots and lots of good readin'.

Over on Culture Surfing, Debbie Michaud has a quick exit interview with former Fulton County Arts & Culture Director Michael Simanga. Read it with your eyes.

The Georgia official who helped the Peach State become a major player in the cutthroat movie and TV business resigned last week with an abruptness that's aroused suspicion within the local industry.

Bill Thompson, who as deputy commissioner of the state Film, Music and Digital Entertainment Division helped make Georgia one of the country's top five locations for film, TV and video game productions, stepped down July 9 to "pursue other opportunities," a commission spokeswoman says. He'd been in the job since 2006.

According to the commission's website, Greg Torre — a previous film commissioner before the department was restructured — has been named interim director of the commission, which is a division of the state's Department of Economic Development.

Thompson's exit, which sources familiar with the industry say was unexpected, has raised questions in the city's filmmaking community — especially since he helped the state leverage a healthy tax incentive package to attract hundreds of millions of dollars in investment to Georgia. (Industry officials say Georgia, which enjoys state support, a talented workforce and growing infrastructure and facilities, is poised to become a filmmaking hub.)

In a June interview with I Am Entertainment Magazine, Thompson offered no hints that he planned on leaving the office. (He did say the state could reexamine its "Right to Work" legislation, which the interviewer said possibly caused Georgia to miss out on larger productions. Georgia's about as anti-union as it gets, so who knows if that's a touchy subject.)

Prior to joining the commission four years ago, the Georgia State University graduate was an independent producer who worked with such clients as Coca-Cola and General Electric. Awards to his credit, according to his commission bio, include an MTV Music Video Award, a Southeastern Emmy Award nomination, Gold and Silver Telly Awards, and an Award of Merit from the International Television Association.