Well, just got through with the really tough work, and now it's time for a cookout! Y'all have a nice weekend, and don't forget Saturday Night at Manuel's Tavern!

Wow, now this is what I flew all the way over here for. It's 80 degrees outside, sunny, and I'm sitting in a café in East Atlanta, drinking coffee and enjoying wireless, surrounded by big, comfy chairs and non-judgemental people of mixed races who are also tapping away on laptops, although generally of the *ahem* Windows variety. Not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you, just saying.

Of course, the whole café is non-smoking, but I'll look past that. I'm not sure I can get any work done in such a clean-air environment, but I'll give it a shot. Or go play frisbee, one or the other.

UPDATE:

Ouch. Sorry baby, but as they say: better her than me.

Debauchery for a Good Cause.

On Saturday, March 26th, there will be a benefit for Frank of Virginia-Highlands at Manuel's Tavern on North Avenue. Frank collapsed four months ago at work, and has been in the hospital ever since. He has fought his way back to possible recovery, even after doctors pronounced his case hopeless months ago. He's back from the brink of death, but will probably be in the hospital until at least early next year.

So, there will be a trivia contest, lots o' drinking, and lots of interesting people to meet, including me, Rube. All the proceeds are going to Frank's hospital bills.

Check back here for the exact time, and updates.

Frank's not doing too good. The time for Saturday is 7:00 PM, and y'all are all welcome to come by for free food and drink, as long as you pay the $25 for admission. Now come on out and get yo trivia on. Says Leigh. And she should know.

Howdy, Folks! (Hey, Sweetie!)

Been a couple a days. How y'all doin'? I landed in Atlanta on Monday afternoon, and have spent a little time settling in. It's a lot better than I thought it would be. There are W '04 bumper stickers everywhere, for example, and a nice low buzz of fear instilled by Bushitler and his jack-booted thugs at CNN and the Atlanta Journal-Consitution. That Rove is a genius; his tendrils are everywhere, and Project AmeriKKKa is coming along nicely.

Spent a little time with the cat, restrained myself from whipping my mom's new poodle with an electrical cord, and celebrated my grandmother's 74th birthday last night in the one bad mexican restaurant in north georgia, the one without any vegetarian dishes. And when did mexicans come up with a "brisket burrito" anyway, what the hell?

At any rate, I'm tooling around Atlanta now, in case any you North Georgia boys want to get together and warm up a little for the Wreckyll. Yacht Club, anyone?

Yabu's actin' all high-brow on us, telling us we're watching too much television, and that we should read books. Well, I say 'fuck that'. If I wanted to read a book, I'd join the boy scouts again or something similar, where you'd be expected to read books and stuff, weak metaphors notwithstanding.

I can think of several movies that were better than their book counterparts:

"The Shawshank Redemption", for example. The book (short story actually) was great, but the film was even better.

"Stand By Me" was based on a story in the same book, and it was also a damn fine movie, which I found better than the written version.

"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is also a possibility. Both the book and movie pretty freaking good.

"Bladerunner" walks all over the short story it was based on, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep", as does "Star Wars", which was a book Lucas wrote a couple of years before the movie came out.

"Re-animator" is better than the H.P. Lovecraft story it was based on, although that's not really fair, considering the story was only about 3 pages long.

"Bram Stoker's Dracula", corny as it is, is less corny than the book. The book is absolutely horrible.

Frankenstein, however, is a great book, even better than the fine film version starring Robert de Niro, IMHO.

"The Ten Commandments" is better than the Bible, if only because it's shorter and got better editing.

There.