…that doesn’t mean a thing! Belk has announced that they’ll be moving an office to Birmingham. I’m not exactly sure how the press release reads, but basically what they are doing is moving their “Western” division office (which oversees their “western” stores) from Greenville, SC to Birmingham. Their corporate office with all of the buying functions will still be located in Charlotte & us Parisian folk will still be out of a job by the end of March. I think this is a sincere attempt to try to make nice with the city, but if they turn all of the Parisian stores into what Belk at the Galleria looks like, bringing 20 jobs to the city isn’t going to save them in this market. They have the potential to do good things… and I’m not just saying that because they’re now signing my paychecks… or am I??!!

We mentioned Alabama artist Daniel Moore a few days back. For the Record interviewed him on the 22nd and posted the segment here, on their site. It’s free and only up for a few days, so check it out soon, if you’re interested.

Daniel A. Moore is a painter.

For 20 years, he’s been allowed to walk the sidelines at Bama games and paint amazing images of UA football.

But no more…

Read the rest of this entry »

Did anyone think Baxley even came close to holidng her own? No real fight tonight, huh? Oh well. It was fun watching the broadcast and keeping up with the live-bloggers as they re-capped, scored the debate and posted commentary.

Riley was the winner across the board on every site/blog I found. If you want to read more Wade on Birmingham and Politics in Alabama have much much more. They both have good stuff!

Here’s a slideshow highlighting recently doctored news photos. It’s pretty interesting. (note: the site hosting the slideshow is maintained by a pro-Israel group. There’s nothing wrong with that, just wanted you to be aware).

You can be sure the photographers taking these shots to sell to news agencies know that the more drama their pics evoke the more $$$ they can collect. I wonder if they can collect a “product placement fee” from Disney’s ad department?
Anyway, it definately makes you stop and think.

Tip o’ the fedora to WC for sending that link our way.

Jim Evans’ latest column can be found here over at EthicsDaily.com

As refreshing as it was to read that Reuters fired a photographer for doctoring photos last week, I believe the New York Times has just signaled the end of journalism.

The paper has hired a Hollywood agency to represent its reporters and stories. It’s the first time a newspaper has hired a full-time agent to negotiate the sale of its stories. Evidently, in this day of reality entertainment, the paper has been flooded with requests to turn their news articles into movies, books and tv shows. I guess the Times’ higher-ups got tired of seeing all the “potential revenue” and hired the Hollywod pros to help haul it in.

What happens when editors realize how just how easy it’d be to sell the rights to their story if it was just a little juicier? Or once reporters get their first taste of a little bit of fame REAL fame when they go to the Hollywood movie premiere based on a series they wrote? Or if publishers realize how lucrative movies, books and magazines can be and start looking for stories that would “translate well”?

This is not good.

The Hollywood Reporter initially ran the story which the wires and GalleyCat picked up on.

I’ve always wondered why the masses are ok with fictional story lines like the Left Behind” series but upset with “The DaVinci Code”. They both base their stories on Bible stories, but then make up buckets of stuff to fill in the blanks and make a more entertaining read. It’s what authors do.

I always assumed (or maybe hoped) that people knew that all these books are just fiction. But Jim Evans and others are warning that folks may not be that smart.

We miss Jim Evans’ column at the Birmingham Post (for that matter, we miss the Post too). Whether you find yourself agreeing or arguing with Jim Evans, he talks about things that everyone should be talking about. His short columns allow many of us to have important conversations that we normally wouldn’t get to have.

What I thought was going to be a book review is actually more of a book report, but timely and chock full of thought provoking stuff nonetheless.

Here’s the link.