Borrowed from mil...

Borrowed from miladyelizabeth :Today's Terror Alert Level:

New Years Traditions

Since everyone seems to be stirring at this point, just wondering what other people's New Year's traditions are and how many you have picked up from friends, significant others etc.1) The PeachI started going down to underground Atlanta in the late 80's to watch the Peach Drop. A year before that I was working at elan in dunwoody (they closed later that year). A year before that I brought in the new year at the Limelight (that was the last year it was open). Suffice it to say, I don't like being in a club at midnight anymore. The club usually closes that year.2) Chinese FoodMy ex-girlfriend said that you should eat Chinese food on New Year's day. No idea why. Maybe she was thinking of Christmas day?3) Black Eyed Peas/Collard GreensMy childhood nanny told me this was important. Collards for money in the new year, and the peas for luck.4) Hoppin' John whatever this stuff is, a friend had a new years day party and made it. no idea5) champagnebeats me6) kissing at midnightgood to do, but no idea where it came from7) sex sometime on New Year's Dayagain, good to do, but no idea where the tradition came from8) 'what you do on new year's day, you will do for the rest of the year'a friend suggested that you:a) count your moneyb) spend some of your money (wisely)c) start a new projectd) call family and friends9) put change in a jar filled with watermy family used to drive up to North Carolina and ski Beech mountain between Christmas and New Year's. For a while we'd end up bringing in the New Year in the motel room with my mom's mother (my Persian grandmother)She would put change in the bottom of a jar or glass and leave it on the table from nye to the end of nyd. She said that it would bring us money in the new year.It didn't. We stopped doing it after two years of poor results.Not that I WANT any addition New Year's traditions. I'm just curious as to if I seem to be the only one with so many.

Happy Friggin' New Year! Now get up and feed me!

The next time I go out in public I might have little claw marks all over my face. It seems 'the kids' don't understand that dad needs a few extra hours of sleep New Year's Day before getting up to feed them wet food. Twice this morning, once at around 6 am (which is unheard of) and again at 10 am (which is about an hour and half late) I was awakened to a clawing feeling on my face from my 18 pound cat.I am no pet psychiatrist, but I know enough NOT to wake up and feed him or the little one after he does this kind of thing. If he learns that all he has to do is poke me on the face with his claws to get fed, there's no end to the potential torture I might have to endure. Pavlov should have used a cat!Bear in mind, the kitties never starve. I have a full cannister of dry food that is available 24/7. They just like the ritual and taste better of wet food.

"I haven't shaved my legs"

I'm still trying to figure this one out. If I hadn't heard it twice from two seperate women within the past five days it wouldn't have seemed so pronounced.I have women friends that like to bounce ideas off of me. Last week, I was told by one of them that she wasn't going to sleep with her ex-boyfriend. She stated with confidence "I haven't shaved my legs, so I know I won't have sex with him".I just heard it again from another friend not more than a hour ago about HER ex-boyfriend.Use some common sense here. If you're that hot for your ex, or even someone new, hairy legs aren't gonna make a difference. They sure aren't gonna matter to him. Especially an ex-boyfriend that has seen you at your worst. He's not gonna say "I know I'm hot and heavy for some heavy duty penetration, but eewww! I can't have sex with you cuz you've got hairy legs!"So this can be considered a PSA for women out there. Please don't rationalize the hairy legs scenario any more.

Fancy that--Vacant buildings on the rise

It's kind of funny that after I posted a continuation of my rant about losing Atlanta history in favor of development, the Sunday biz section of The Atlanta Journal Constitution printed this article: (please forgive me for not knowing how to do a cut)THE 2003 ECONOMY: REAL ESTATE: PR execs get pick of places for officeLeon Stafford - StaffSunday, December 28, 2003When Bob Cohn, Jim Overstreet and Amy Parrish decided to open a public relations firm earlier this year, they needed office space in a hurry. Such need is a poor bargaining chip in the world of lease negotiations, but it wasn't a problem for the firm. In today's commercial real estate market, Cohn, Overstreet & Parrish had the upper hand. "When we were looking, agents were throwing amenities at us right and left," Overstreet said, ticking off such perks as deals on parking, utilities and cleaning services. "They were giving away property." And that is looking to be the case in 2004, said John Zintak, vice president at Carter, an Atlanta commercial real estate firm. There will be a moderate recovery next year, he said, but the surplus space is too large to be reversed in one year. After looking at space at three or four different buildings, Cohn, Overstreet & Parrish settled for Midtown Heights on Spring Street, which gave the fledgling company free furniture. Mark Pettit, president and chief executive of Creaxion, another Atlanta public relations firm, said he gets at least one call a week soliciting his interest in moving his company from Buckhead's Atlanta Financial Center. He was even cornered at a recent holiday party by an agent offering space for $12 a square foot. That's a marked change from Creaxion's first search for space in 1999, when it had just three employees. "It was the other way around then," he said. "The landlords were in charge." Creaxion has grown to 12 employees and has enlarged its space three times, all while watching its neighbors move out. "I think what they see in us is a steady business," Pettit said. And if the Financial Center wants to keep Creaxion, Pettit wants more than just a more competitive lease. "I want our name on the sign." Vacancy rates on riseVacancy rates have been creeping upward all year, reaching roughly 17 percent, reports Torto Wheaton Research.What demand there is for space seems to have been coming from smaller tenants, who account for more than half of all leased office space, according to a Prudential Financial report.That is consistent with signs, while tentative, that small businesses are leading the economic expansion, Prudential reports. "The recovery in tenant demand that we expected in the second half of 2003 has not yet materialized."About 31 million square feet of office space in metro Atlanta was empty at midyear. That's a vacancy rate of nearly 25 percent, the worst since 1992, according to Cushman & Wakefield. More than 63 million square feet --- 14.5 percent of the total --- of industrial space was vacant, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Federal Reserve economists have predicted a pickup in commercial real estate next year. However, Economy.com estimates it will take at least a year for the national vacancy rate to dip to its 10-year average of 13 percent.--- Michael E. Kanell

The Matzoh Ball

I know I've got two entries within hours of each other, but I felt the need to vent.Every year on Christmas Eve, some of the Jewish groups put together a party for all the Jews in Atlanta. Last year's party was at The Ravinia. Probably about 600 to 900 people. I had a great time meeting a lot of new people.This year, there were two parties. One, again at The Ravinia, and another one at Park Tavern in Midtown. Feeling that the party at The Ravinia was going to be basically the same as last year, I headed down there again.Bad mistake. There were probably about 150 to 200 people at The Ravinia and probably 800-1000 over at The Park Tavern. Unfortunately, friends convinced me to stay at The Ravinia. "We have a room upstairs and we'll be having a party after the event is over"Lame party...nuff said...I never expect to meet anyone significant. I was just hoping my night would have been more fruitful.I did get two unexpected compliments that meant a lot to me, so I suppose it wasn't a total wash.

more of atlanta fading

well, contractors will be tearing down the Lindbergh Plaza soon. It used to be called Broadview Plaza and has many memories for me. Before the bridge was fully developed on Buford Highway, there was only a dirt road to Broadview Plaza. There was a small amusement park in the back called KiddieLand. Hoem Depot is there now. My Mom and Dad used to be in bowling leagues at the Broadview Bowl-o-Matic.The Office Depot used to be Club 2001 VIP Discotech, and there was an amusement arcade next door that my girlfirend at the time used to work at.The Screening Room (George Lefont's) was a great place to see movies.I saw Sextette there when I was really young. The entire audience was invited to Backstreet after the movie. Before Lefont bought it, I saw Seargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club starring Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees. I think it was the first time I had ever been exposed to Hi quality stereo. If you've never seen it, the movie starts with a mono (monaural score) and doesn't change until we're taken into present day at which point the screen widens and the new score from the Bee Gees takes over in stereo.And even before it was a movie theatre and nightclub, it was the great southeast music hall.The K-Mart in that plaza has been there since it opened I believe.It's unfortunate, but I just feel that we're losing too much of original Atlanta in favor of more condos, and more buildings that will stay vacant.The entire area where Marta is building Atlantic Station used to be highly important to the film community. There were a number of movie post houses, sound stages, screening rooms, and a hotel all in the same area. Production companies could fly into Atlanta, stay at The Ramada, and walk a few blocks to do all their work. Golly gee whiz, now we're going to have even another mall of sorts to try and fill!That whole "revitalization" of underground Atlanta has been a roaring success. I don't knwo what we would have done without another Great American Cookie Company in that historic area. Gee you think I could get a Blimpie sandwich while I'm shopping and taking my life into my own hands at underground? Of course, you have to pay to park nearby, and risk getting mugged or having your car broken into by someone just to shop there.Which brings me to another point....why is it that we have to pay someone to park somewhere. The guy in the lot just collects money and doesn't care about any of the cars in the lot! Now they've even eliminated the attendant in some lots with the 'honor box'. All they have to do is boot your car for $75 if you refuse to pay five bucks in their lot. I really wouldn't mind paying the five bucks if someone were actually doing something besides collecting your money.Don't even get me started on Lakewood. Long story short--Lakewood Fairgrounds were falling apart and being used rarely. There was speculation that transforming the old fair hangers into soundstages would have guaranteed Atlanta a booming film business that would have rivaled hollywood. Near the airport, but not so close as to interfere with filming, lots of empty space on the fairgrounds themselves plus a neighborhood in need of revitalization that would have readily welcomed the boost to the economy. So we ended up with an amphitheatre instead. It's used about twice a month maybe. From what I understand, it's hard to draw people down down there anyway. I've even gotten several free tickets from Hi-Fi Buys in the past few years. But atleast we've got an amphitheatre.I suppose most of this goes back to my original post--The mural they tore down on Peachtree has indeed been replaced with new condos.Now, there's a church on Ponce de Leon near N. Highland that (surprise) is being turned into condos.Again, I have nothing against the free market. My problem is with blatant business stupidity at the expense of Atlanta history.People almost destroyed the Fox theatre in favor of more 'development'So my question is: what happens when investors tear down an Atlanta landmark in favor of building more of what the city doesn't need and then lose their collective asses once everything is completed? The answer is: The city suffers. Sure, the investor has provided employment and economical benefits temporarily, but sometimes it just doesn't justify the end. Perhaps these banks should scrutinize these construction projects more closely before agreeing to tear down a landmark to pave a new parking lot.

Similar...

SimilarMinds Compatibility Results

all a blur

So I made it to the Looney Tunes screening at 10:30 this morning. I got about three hours sleep before the screening. I feel like crap.When I got back home, I fell asleep. I missed the Good Mews new location opening. I missed a friend's party.I still feel like crap. Hopefully, I'll feel better later on.

I'm tr...

I'm trying to get all my Livejournal friends' locations plotted on a map - please add your location starting with this form.Username:(Then get your friends to!)

S.A.D.

Seaonal Affective Disorder--I really hate the fall time change. People freak out when the sun starts to set at 4:30.It's bad enough that the days are shorter. It's even worse that the time shift is early in the morning when a lot of people aren't even awake yet anyway. Who was the brilliant person to come up with Daylight Savings time?The biggest problem with trying to change it is it's an individual state law/resolution for every state. You'd have to get every state to change it.

E.R.

I am thoroughly convinced that prozac is a secret sponsor of E.R.I don't know why I continue to watch this show. It always manages to depress me. The central characters are getting drug addicted, developing brain tumors, losing limbs, and facing other interesting dilemmas.How is it possible than in a group of less than 10, the percentage of Tsuris (yiddish word) is so great?

sigh

what's with all this waiting?you would think with all of this high tech stuff people wouldn't have to wait any longer.I am quite convinced that all of my email and voice mail messages end up in some cyber-space black hole for 2 months until someone finally decides to search for them and respond. Sometimes they don't even respond!oh well

still happening

I wonder if my fellow live journal users will consider this cheating as well.Customer service still sucks, and I don't have time to go through this again, so just look here: http://www.livejournal.com/users/vinylm/2165.htmlThe only difference is that it took an hour on the phone w/ a CSR to pay a 26 cent shortage for a cell phone.

Looking for Domain Registrar

I was wondering if anyone knows of a domain registrar that is cheap $7 to $9 per domain, that offers free email forwarding through aliases.I have a free host, so I don't need the whole hosting package. The registrar I'm currently with is inexpensive and easy to use for my website, but has no phone numbers to dial to even discuss email forwarding or anything at all for that matter. I've been emailing the support address since mid August and no one has replied except for the auto-reply.

The personality disorder test

What was really scary about this is that since it was looking for the extremes (i.e. are you very... ), I found myself answering no to most of the questions.oh well...DisorderRatingParanoid:LowSchizoid:LowSchizotypal:LowAntisocial:LowBorderline:LowHistrionic:ModerateNarcissistic:LowAvoidant:LowDependent:LowObsessive-Compulsive:Low-- Personality Disorder Test - Take It! --

One Year

Well, it looks like it took me one year before I started posting. And now, it's been another year since I started. I've averaged about a post a month....not bad....it still means there's hope for me....

vinylm...

vinylm's LiveJournal Secret Crush Stats The below statistics indicate what sorta crushes vinylm has on his LJ friends!No Crush89.7%Secret Crush5.1%Public Crush0.0%Ex-Crush5.1%What are your LiveJournal Secret Crush Stats?Tired of the sickly Suicide Girls? Faux geek porn got you down?Check out That Strange Girl.

You Do It Like a...

You Do It Like a Gay GirlEven if you're not a girl's girl, you act like one.You tend to form deep, long lasting loves…And after you've gazed into one another's soulsThe battery operated sex follows!Straight or Gay? Guy or Girl? Who Do You Do it Like?More Great Quizzes from Quiz Diva

will they ever learn?

So I have this friend I've known for over 3 years. I like being her friend, and have no interest in her in any other way.Recently she's been dating this guy. Bear in mind, I have never met him, but from what she has told me about him, I would have to conclude he's sleazy.Mistake #1--She works with himMistake #2--While he was dating another girl (pictures on his desk etc.), he took my friend home to her place and he went down on her. (No sex because that would be cheating--yeah right!)Mistake #3--When he broke up with his girlfriend, she started to date him.Mistake #4--One night while they were having (unprotected) sex at his house, he brought a sex toy to bed. Usually no big deal, but this was a USED sex toy!Mistake #5--She forgave him for trying to use the toy on her!Mistake #6--Recently, he went out of town on business. She had been wanting to see him as soon as he got back. On the phone he told her he was a little tired, and was going to meet up with an old friend and talk for a while--One of their co-workers saw him out at a restuarant with a strange (and really ugly) girl. Faced with getting caught, he fessed up to my friend the next day to being out on a date. (But he claims he didn't sleep with her) He also never mentioned that someone from the office saw them out together.Right Thing #1--She dumps him.Mistake #7--She took him back. "He's learned his lesson", "He's changed", "It's in the past", "He's taking me on a trip"I've just finished arguing with her about this crap. I told her that I trust her judgement implicitly when her emotions are not involved, but she obviously can't see how sleazy this guy is, and that when he cheated on his former girlfriend with her, she should have seen it coming. This whole trip thing shouldn't matter, and of course she claims it doesn't, but seriously, who is she trying to fool? I know there isn't crap for me to do, and that she really needs to learn her lesson. I'm just hoping that this asshole doesn't give her some STD in the process. She is a divorced single mom and this would prove to be a really stupid move.

The fun has begun

Last year at Dragon*Con, I spent most of my time running errands for our show. Such is life for a producer. At least a lot of the stuff has gotten done this year, and I'm not standing in Lowes or Home Depot tomorrow trying to finish sets and props at the last minute.I might actually have time to enjoy myself this year--probably not until Monday morning again after our show. (I worry too much)I think we might actually go on closer to midnight this year instead of 2:30 am. So Rocky Horror at Midnight might actually happen.Speaking of which, our booth for Lips Down On Dixie is where it was last year (between Centennial I and II ) If anyone wants to stop by and leave me a message, that would be great.We finally got the DVDs from last year's Dragon*Con show (the one everyone couldn't stop talking about) on sale at the booth. $15 (and now a word from our sponsor)I'm really excited about our cast and production. We've worked extra hard, and everyone seems to be working in unison."Dress Rehearsal" is tonight at Lefont Plaza at midnight. It should be really fun.www.ldod.org

futility

the definition of insanity is repeating the same actions and expecting a different result.sometimes i wonder...

Knuckle Sandwich Film Shoot

btw, I just got back from Dalton, GA from princpal photography on Knuckle Sandwich, a low-budget independent feature film to be completed in L.A. I worked sound. It was definitely an experience. I now can't stand the sound of trains. Dalton is right on the train line and a train passes thru every 17 minutes blowing its whistle for every crossroad. Normally, this wouldn't bother me, except I was responsible for getting clean dialogue, and train whistles in every 3rd take aren't exactly condusive to that.Here are some pics from the shoot:http://pak02.pictures.aol.com/NASApp/ygp/GuestLogin?event=DirectView&shareInfo=1uXYxRKKm4QCJfWm3KF5peFS2pD99PqvCVajR8Vyaci%2fjFCnkV3ciA%3d%3d&pageName=AlbumViewFromEmails

the economy

I am now convinced that it's gonna have to get a lot worse before it gets better. The economy that is. A lot of businesses are still turning away potential customers. About a year ago, my friend and I were in a small flea-market business on Peachtree Ind. Blvd in Chamblee GA. We were shopping there at around 4:45 on a Saturday. At 4:50 the lights started to go out and the announcement came over the P.A. that they were closing at 5 PM. I looked around the store and there were still more than 30 people shopping (picking stuff up and holding onto it). At 5 PM we were all hurried out of the store. Gotta close on time I guess. Make sure the store is empty at 4:59!About 3 months ago I stopped into an all you can eat Pizza Buffet at closing. There were a few pies left. I asked if I could pay the buffet price and leave with roughly 12 slices. The clerk told me that they didn't do take-out buffet and that I'd have to pay $1 a slice if I wanted them. I could have, of course, sat down at a table taking up more of their time, and payed for the buffet, knowing that they were not going to make any more pizzas, but I figured that they would benefit from me taking the old slices and leaving (allowing them to close). I asked her what they were gonna do with the pizza slices if I didn't buy them. She told me they were throwing them out. So I asked a second time if they would be willing to charge me for a buffet for the remaining slices. The clerk wouldn't budge. I left...knowing that the restaurant could have made about 5 bucks off of me for some stuff they were throwing out, but instead they made nothing.Finally, yesterday evening I made it to Sam's Club at 8:28 PM. There was already someone at the door making sure no one else entered the store. I told him it wasn't 8:30 yet, and he disagreed telling me it was 5 minutes after. I checked my cell phone which has its time updated frequently by the cell towers and it had just turned 8:29.I told him I knew exactly what I wanted and could be in and out within a few minutes. No luck.The only decent example I have is from my Dry Cleaner. It's a mom & pop owned establishment. They do not accept plastic, but that's the only disadvantage. They regularly stay open late for their customers. They offer discounts when you bring in lots of clothes at the same time. They know me by name and occupation, and they pay close attention to details.I suppose the reason the dry-cleaner is the exception here is the fact that the owners work in the store. They own AND RUN the business.Customer service for big businesses has gone even further down hill since the economy tanked. It's truly amazing. If I were a business owner of any kind, I would stress to my employees that keeping customers and generating sales takes priority over anything else, be it closing time, or inconvenience. Most of these minimum wage people don't care. It will be a while before they start caring. They don't realize that their point of contact with the customer can mean the difference between keeping a business open and filing for bankruptcy.Learn dammit!getting down off my proverbial soapbox

we made best of atlanta!

Our film in the 48 hour film project made the Best of Atlanta. It's gonna be screened tomorrow night at the Rialto at 6 pmwww.roundtablestudios.com click on the new link for tickets

been a while--48 hour film project

well, i worked on the 48 hour film project two weeks ago. www.48hourfilm.comWe drew "musical or Western" genre.guess what we took?here's the website and film:www.roundtablestudios.com

worried

aside from the fact that I'm updating twice in the same day......ok...now i'm worried. The girl that cuts my hair suggested that I take a look at the country music channel. She keeps telling me that things have changed in that scene.Is it my imagination or are most country songs now what used to be called contemporary soft rock? I haven't heard a hawaiian guitar, or seen anyone squealing with a cowboy hat on.Maybe I just got too much hee-haw when I was younger, but the top 20 countdown featiring faith hill is not that bad.and the guy hosting the countdown looks like he's from MTV.weird

another day

Saw Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets yesterday. Not a bad movie at all. Runs about 2 1/2 hours though. It's much darker than the first one and from what I understand they're going to get progressively darker with each new one.It should be easy to replace Richard Harris as Dumbledor. He's under so much makeup and facial hair, he's literally unrecognizable.Went to a launch party for Jewish singles. I just don't get it. They seem to be the same people at all of these functions. They seem to have the same attitude as well. It's no wonder that they're still single.I've often wondered why a majority of Jewish women don't like cats.Left the party after the initial rush of people had died down. If I had left ten minutes earlier than I did, my team trivia team would have come in first place. I knew the lost lyrics bonus question--a surprise considering I'm usually horrible with lyrics. I also got the Laverne and Shirley TV question wrong. What was Squiggy's real first name? I had two guesses on the sheet, and asked a teammate to pick one. Of course, it was the other one.I wish this damned economy would turn around already.

A reminder not to give to UNICEF

I'll probably get a lot of flack for saying this, but it needs to be said. UNICEF is not our friend.It's a charity that takes money from U.S. citizens and uses it in third world countries under the banner of United Nations.Despite the actions of the U.S. in other lands, good or bad, our charitable donations are never credited to us under UNICEF. True, anonymous donations are usually much more sincere, but the U.S. has really big P.R. problem these days. If you would like to contribute charity to third world countries, make sure that the organization you choose does it giving you or the country it came from credit for it.

Network Television really upsets me

Here I was all ready to see the third episode of That Was Then, and it's another hour of garbage of people with their cam-corders (funniest home videos).I just don't understand how the major networks make any money. They are constantly shifting shows around to different nights and times and then yanking something after two weeks' performance. And what is the big deal about Scrubs? It's really bad but NBC keeps touting it as some sort of incredible breakthrough. well, at least I can flip the channel to the WB for DO Over. Yes, even though it has almost the same premise as That Was Then, they are radically different. Do Over is a half hour comedy while That was Then is a One hour comedy drama. So ABC's website lists That Was Then on hiatus. yeah, right.

Another piece of Atlanta history bites the dust

I'm not positive about it, but I think the mural on Peachtree St is gone. It wasn't anything spectacular, just really nice to look at. I think it was painted in the late 80's because it had Prince, Jack Nicholson as The Joker in Batman, and some other recognizable faces/characters on it. It was originally painted to go with the restaurant whose parking lot it shared. Some sort of movie/entertainment themed place that went bankrupt a few months after it opened. There were other things that took its place. An Indian place, a Chinese place etc., but no one ever touched the mural. While driving down Peachtree on Tuesday night, I noticed a lot more contruction going on. Even though there's absolutely no market for condos right now, these companies continue to build them. There used to be a record store on Peachtree St. nearby that was called Peaches. Several recording artists put their footprints in the concrete in front of the store. When it closed, someone came along and jack-hammered those footprints out of the sidewalk. The space where Peaches was would have made a great nightclub. It would have been so appropriate to have the foot prints out there. Oh well.The first dentist I ever went to had his office on W. Peachtree St. About 10 years ago, they had turned his office building into dorms.My Dad's first law office was right next to the original location for TBS. When my grandfather had to sell the building because of financial woes, Ted bought it and used it for his people. It was really strange to revisit those offices and to see Braves stuff in the office where my Dad used to work. They had never redecorated so the 70's motif still wreaked from that area.Cable Atlanta bought that space from Turner along with the old TBS studios. Then it changed hands about 4 or 5 times while the different cable conglomerates tried to make up their minds as to who was going to be the cable system for the city. (don't even let me get started on AT&T). I guess what upsets me now is that the building is probably going to be torn down soon.Contractors tore down the Columbia theatre to build a parking lot. The old building for the Limelight was given a similar fate. They took a beautiful structure (the old Harlequin Dinner Theatre), tore the whole thing down, and seperated the floors to build a "World Market". It's a trinket shop like Pier One. It frustrates me to no end when things are torn down--unofficial historical locations, in favor of building more crap that we don't need. In the late 80's, it was strip malls. I am a capitalist at heart, but I just didn't see the need for all of these new malls when they couldn't fill the old ones.The North 85 Drive-In bit the dust in 1999 so that we could have 24 screens showing 12 of the same movies. Hell, most of the movie chains have filed for bankruptcy because of their constant over-building mentality. The Georgia theatre company did a lot of damage in the 80's to Lenox Square theatre. It still is beyond me how the could take a grand auditorium, twin it, the turn the concession lobby into a theatre, turn the hallway from the outside into the mall into a theatre, and then add on an extra screen. It's really unfortunate because you have a 1 in 5 chance of seeing a movie in the giant hallway there. If you do luck out and get the 'big screen', the projectionist (and I use that term lightly) will exhibit the entire panavision (rectangular) picture on a square screen because he's never heard of moving the black masking out of the way.but I digress....Phipps Plaza 16 used to be home to 3 large screens. Two downstairs and one upstairs. I saw Alien at Phipps. I also saw The Empire Strikes Back there. Most of these theatres today can't hold a candle to the old ones. Phipps has a got a whacked out system now. The screens are not perforated to have speakers behind them, so instead they put speakers above. Films there look grainy, and there's just something inherently wrong with hearing sounds coming from above.still I digress...I just don't get it. Why do these people insist on tearing down Atlanta history or remodeling or building stuff that we don't need? Why doesn't anyone think logically anymore? Never mind the fact that there's a strip mall across the street from you that can't lease, go ahead and build another strip mall. Build more offices in downtown Atlanta. Build more offices in Alpharetta. let's all contribute to the traffic and polution problem. I also get a kick out of these new apartment and housing communities. For some reason, it's impossible for contractors and developers to build AROUND the trees. They raze the whole area and plant some saplings in front to take their places. WHAT ABOUT SHADE? This is the south dammit! It gets hot during the summer and you come in and 'develop' the land.oh well...off my soapbox