Neither Big Nor Tall

Andre's Blog Has Moved

2008-09-15T21:29:00.005-04:00

Hey Everyone,I'm trying out a new blog service, Wordpress, just for giggles. I've also bought my own domain name. It's www.neitherbignortall.com. If you've been reading, please continue and increase the comments, questions and arguements. I hope to focus the blog a bit more over the next while so please offer me any insights that you may have.ThanksAndre

Gentrifying Boulevard?

2008-09-06T10:06:00.004-04:00

You may or may not be familiar with the renovated church at the corner of Boulevard and Chase St., but the tense debate between developers and neighbors continues as the building sits unused.Ace local government reporter Blake Aued updates the situation in today's paper (Sat. Sept. 6).Local developers Patrick O'Brien and John LaFlamme renovated the church in 2006 and asked for permission to turn

Seafood Party at Daniel's

2008-09-03T16:12:00.006-04:00

My good friend Daniel bought a house in my neighborhood this summer and then efficiently performed the duty of all new homeowners-- he threw one hell of a housewarming. Most people throw these fetes in order to receive gifts or show off remodels. Other hosts have rather bourgeois notions of welcoming good friends into their new digs. Daniel is decidedly more selfless; not only did he throw the

2008-08-26T12:44:00.003-04:00

I spent last weekend, Aug. 22, reacquainting with my old friends Jodi and Duncan, of the storied Asheville JodiDuncans. And there's no better way to catch up on the fly than holding a dance party in some stranger's den and slinging a few George Dickel on the rocks around the room. Despite being able to rule a dance floor without spilling a drop of whiskey, which is talent worthy of a six figure

Troubled Cajuns: My Distant Cousins Face Difficult Decisions

2008-08-25T17:24:00.003-04:00

Holding Out, to Last Tiny Isle, as Cajun Land Sinks Into Gulf (New York Times)Much like their forefathers, Cajuns down in southwest Louisiana are being forced from their homes. But this time its not the British army doing the pushing. I've written here before about foreign shrimp markets, namely Taiwan and Thailand, flooding U.S. supermarkets with cheap foreign seafood and the devastating effect

Hurricane et Tu l'aimes ou tu la quittes

2008-07-29T19:32:00.004-04:00

I've been logging into the French Daily Motion site to improve my French comprehension and end up watching these great short films that get posted quite often. They're really high quality, not just an out for laughs, kick in the pants digital short so common on You Tube.Hurricane is about a trio of country siblings and their creative use of the wind power produced by the punctual TGV. The french

Spring Is For Shrimps

2008-04-27T17:12:00.008-04:00

Living in Georgia for 17 years and unawares of the gorgeous coastline.Every year, the tiny hamlets that support Georgia's shrimping industry hold festivals to honor the oncoming seasons of work. They're a common occurrence in fishing towns. The local bishops come out to dowse the boats in holy water and prayers, hence the name Blessing of the Fleet.I attended a blessing festival in Darien, Ga.,

Baby's First Hyperlink

2008-04-02T15:15:00.004-04:00

In my last post, I linked to my Athens Exchange article on the 16th Report of the Secretaries of State. That story, written by your very own carpenter/Raymond Carver wannabe, is now hyperlinked at The National Interest Online (here).And that can mean only one thing: the greater blogosphere will soon realize that I can't even spell furn polesy, much less cover it efficiently. Once again, check out

Me, Myself, and Madeline Albright...

2008-04-01T21:55:00.003-04:00

...four other former secretaries of state and around 2100 other people got together recently to hash out some of our nation's foreign policy dilemmas.Yup, I was one of the lucky folks who got to attend the 16th Report of the Secretaries of State, thanks to a friendly bulldog at the Rusk Center for International Law. Not only was I in the same room as some the great diplomatic minds of the

The Teenagers, "Reality Check"

2008-03-22T14:42:00.006-04:00

First off, check out my review of the Teenagers debut album "Reality Check" on AthensExchange.com. The Teenagers are a group of young, French hipster types playing spazzy electro-clash pop full of jokes about pimples and sex.Normally I'm a sucker for all things French, which is why I decided to review this record, but I had to work through a lot of entrenched trend bias with this group. They've

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program at the Hancock Community Development Corporation

2008-03-15T15:52:00.005-04:00

In February, I wrote an article on a local nonprofit that provides tax prep assistance to low income folks. Here's the link: VITA story at AthensExchange.com. Doing the interviews, I met some great people committed to community service, and, as is usually the case, got to hear some great stories. Here are some pictures from the Saturday that I spent with the volunteers. Nicole(left) and Dorothy

The "Love and Consequence" of Deceitful Writing

2008-03-05T21:01:00.009-05:00

The Andre Daily News would write the headline like this: "Another Affluent White American, Desperate for Credibility, Fictionalizes Life in Memoir." Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin, is pulling Margaret Seltzer's memoir, "Love and Consequences," from bookstores, and offering refunds to book buyers after discovering that Seltzer cooked much of the material.Check out the NYT coverage of the

Quick Holiday Leftovers

2008-02-24T11:28:00.011-05:00

Johanna and I spent the Christmas holidays in Florida this year, and so the year previous. The big difference between '06 and '07 is that we bought a digital camera last November. Obviously, our presence in south Florida was enveloped in the fake "click" sound our Nikon makes every time we focused and shot. Here's a few of my favorite photos. I found it odd that, amidst the drought which

Dehydrated Time Traveller

2008-01-30T17:46:00.000-05:00

Normally I’m a huge fan of the popular and highly read "year in review" every media outlet unleashes. But this year I completely avoided them. Not only did I not want to be reminded of all the great books, movies, music and television shows that I'd missed out on, but I had really wanted to write my own year in review. Instead, I hung my head in lazy shame as the pre-Christmas barrage of

It's all right Ma...I'm only snacking!

2008-01-06T15:12:00.000-05:00

Here's another tongue-in-cheeky piece I wrote for The New Humanist in the Spring/Summer of 2007. Again, I welcome any and all comments.-Andre Subway Restaurants are running a sharp ad campaign which pokes fun at the expanding American waistline. In one spot, an average pair of domesticates rolls

Giving New Meaning...

2007-12-07T09:59:00.000-05:00

Giving New Meaning to... the phrase "farting on a snare drum."The Peckers, 2003It's pigeons cutting loose on electric rock and roll instruments...get it. This is a great video by Ron Tran, a Vietnamese born artist based out of Vancouver, B.C. Tran is currently presenting at Art Basel Miami Beach and this video is part of an introduction to the artist series that is available through The Moment

Making up for The Notebook, Nick Cassavettes channels his inner Sociologist

2007-11-28T19:23:00.000-05:00

This review was written in 2006 for the online magazine Athens Exchange. The piece is rather rusty- it was my first attempt at writing in many years. But it's a decently funny write-up about an unexpectedly funny movie. Enjoy, hate, comment and criticize.You’ve already seen Alpha Dog. You’re familiar with its genre- teenie bopper gangster- you just didn’t know that it had been identified. Kids

Rock School, Part 1

2007-11-21T14:03:00.000-05:00

Tuesday’s New York Times found columnist David Brooks, along with Little Stevie Van Zandt, musing over the “fragmentation of rock and roll.” The two reach back into their pre-Reagan memory vaults, back when music was integrated, long before the niche marketing of the 1990s and beyond. Not only has rock been boutiqued to death, they argue, but today’s music makers have discarded the “long

The Mystery Guest by Gregoire Bouillier

2007-11-19T17:24:00.000-05:00

Bonjour, So I've decided to give blogging a shot. I'll begin by posting an essay I wrote last spring on Gregoire Bouillier's The Mystery Guest. The essay was originally published by The New Humanist, an arts and culture ezine based out of Athens, Ga. Please enjoy, hate, and comment.Lying Liars and the Nation who loves themIn 2006, when publishing company Farrar Strauss and Giroux unleashed the