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Final Four Preview

There are four teams left, and I didn't have any of them in my Elite Eight. Go figure. Two five seeds, Michigan State and Butler, face off at 6:07 pm on Saturday. At 8:47, the last remaining 1-seed, Duke, takes on the West Virginia Mountaineers. So far, the Tournament has been fantastic, with the Xavier-Kansas State classic in my Top Five College Basketball Games Ever. From the two Saturday games, who would you take? How many of the Final Four did you pick on your bracket? Did you have any of these four teams remaining?

Downtown At Dusk Photos

Two words: Awe-Some!

Downtown At Dusk was a phenomenal success -- so much so that they ran out of crawfish and had to get more -- and the bar at Underground 119 was slammed because the beer truck outside was overrun. Donna and I got a chance to talk to Mike McCree (Underground 119 owner) after the event had died down and morphed into a Jesse Robinson blues jam inside. Mike was exhausted from running around trying to solve problems due to the unexpected crowd, but told us he was very pleased at the turnout.

Photos from "Evening of Hope"—PPS and Nicole Marquez

This was a wonderful event, including a poignant dance by Nicole Marquez, who is still recovering from an accidental fall months ago that doctors thought might mean she would never walk. Photos by LoungeList photographer Kip Caven.

Mal's St Paddy's Parade Photo Gallery #2

The second gallery by Kip Caven of the St. Paddy's Parade features nearly 100 photos of fun-loving Jacksonians.

Mal's St Paddy's Parade Photo Gallery #1

Album #1 of photos taken on Saturday March 20, 2010 in downtown Jackson by Kip Caven for LoungeList.com.

It's Easy Being Green

Knowing that I am a soon-to-be true Jacksonian and Fondrenite is truly a dream come true. The excitement and anticipation running through my veins has been like a shot of espresso chased by a Red Bull and followed by a 12-pack of Pixie Stix! What a rush! As you may know, I was a fool and tried to keep up with the Jones' and the Naysayers until recently. My change in scenery is a dream I did not realize I wanted at all. But, education makes boys into men and the ignorant (that was me) wise.

White Sorority Wins Step-Off

This year, Zeta Tau Alpha won a step-off that was sponsored by Sprite. The footage was taken by an audience member, so the camera angle is a little off, but take a look at the video (almost 10 minutes):

Help Youth Media Project! Here's PayPal link for Friendship Ball!

It's time for another huge party in downtown Jackson. And this time, you can help the Youth Media Project grow and bring kids from throughout the metro together in a positive way. Just click here to buy your ticket(s) for the Jackson 2000 Friendship Ball Saturday night, and every dime you pay goes to help the young people have a room to work in, get supplies, buy videotapes and other equipment, and even buy snacks for their after-school and Saturday meetings. Jackson 2000 chose the Youth Media Project one of three Friendship Ball receipt recipients this year, and they work in an office (previously donated) connected to the JFP. This is an incredible group of young people, and you can read more about them and their goals on their Web site here. The group is sponsored by the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, the Mississippi Youth Justice Project, the Jackson State Mass Communications Department and the Jackson Free Press.

Social Media Mayhem

As a 38-year-old, I am fairly new to this social media craze. MySpace was first and that was ok, but I still didn't understand what was so addictive about social media. Then I was introduced to FaceBook while, of all things, I was on vacation. You know, at the beach, clearing my head, getting away from it all. Well, the friend I was on vacation with introduced me to the Facebook game that is a takeoff (cheap word for copyright infringement) of Scrabble®. The exact name escapes me because of my age. This is where my fascination, errr, addiction began. If we weren't lying out on the beach, we were waiting on the next move from each other. I was hooked.

Tease photo

Anita's 2010 Oscar Picks

The red carpet rolls out on Sunday, which happens to land smack dab in the middle of the International Documentary Challenge (www.docchallenge.org). For me, that means it will be a weekend of multi-tasking like a champ, and for most women, particularly those with a brood of kids, we do this with relative ease. (That's my mantra and I'm sticking to it.) If the editing system breaks down or there are other snafus on the doc front, I know I can kick back on Sunday and enjoy Oscar time.

Bartered Souls and A Crooked Brow - Furrows' Debut Album Review

To Furrow is to, generally in a pained manner, wrinkle one's forehead. This expression is so pronounced that the bunched skin resembles the parallel farming trenches, from which, the verb derives: furrows. While digesting the lyrics presented in Furrows' self-titled debut, you imagine that Cody Cox, lead singer and songwriter, has heard that description before. It isn't hard to suppose that, after living some of the experiences described here, the topography of one's brow would be altered. It is a credit to the songwriting that these experiences are felt, with the mind, just as acutely as the physical expression would be noticed by the eyes.

A Place for Everyone

My husband Ray and I have been looking for ways to get involved in our community for quite some time now. It has not been an easy task. I am a full time student, Ray sometimes doesn't get home from work until after 8 in the evening, and we have two school-age children and not much money to pay a babysitter. Luckily we found St. Alexis Episcopal Church and have been able to get involved in family friendly things there. As far as community events go, we have not been able to attend due to timing, no babysitter, or other things, so when Ray heard about the community meeting last night at Sneaky Beans he got excited and attempted to get home from work in time. Ray has a degree in criminal justice, works in loss prevention, and has a lot of practice at taking down an armed shoplifter. There is no doubt he could be of use to a community concerned with defending themselves against crime and looking out for each other. Unfortunately, Ray did not make it home from work in time and couldn't attend the meeting, but even without attending there were just a few things that irked me a bit.

Tease photo

Shutter Island: You Can Never Leave

Shutter Island, Martin Scorsese's suspense thriller, begins with the blast of a fog horn. It's a warning, and I jumped in anticipation of sinister horrors. The loud thrumbling of music escalates the foreboding sense of doom and gloom.

JFP on WLEZ Podcast for 2/25/10

jfp022510.mp3

OK, this is not *really* the podcast, but I'll put up a subscribe tool later today so that people can subscribe to this show and all future shows. Meanwhile, here's the download link:

Mississippi's Image in Film

Sundance 2010 may not have had a Mississippi made feature film, but a strong number of films in the festival program embraced rural America with open arms and enveloped bluntly realistic experiences with strong story telling. The festival screened over 120 films from all parts of the world, and the ones that I saw offered authentic personal experiences, rather than the slit- your-throat material of boys gone wild on drugs and violence that initially defined the indie film scene.

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