“Dan in Real Life” – a movie I’ve been eagerly anticipating since I first saw the trailer for it before “Stardust” – finally debuts in theaters today. I was lucky enough to see a pre-release screening of the new film starring Steve Carell and Juliette Binoche, and I’m happy to report it was everything I had hoped for and more.

Vampire movies have needed some new blood for a long time and “30 Days of Night” gives it to the genre. It is far from perfect, but its unique storyline and visuals round it up from mediocre to good.

On November 3, kick your shoes off and enjoy an evening with The Peachtree City Hillbillies while helping raise money for Fayette County Special Olympics.

The murder mystery dinner theatre will feature down-home barbecue from Smokey Bones, and plenty of laughs and intrigue. See if you can figure out who killed Miss Jane Fondle. Was it Uncle Ted, Cornrow, or Smelly May?

Brandon Massey, a resident of Fairburn and author of six published books, will speak and sign copies of his three most recent novels at the Fayette County Public Library in downtown Fayetteville, on Tuesday, October 30 at 7 p.m. Anyone interested in an inside view into the publishing business should plan to attend, as Massey plans to offer insight into his own experiences getting started as an author and editor, and answer questions from the audience.

This year’s Miss Northgate Pageant will be held on Saturday, November 10 at the Centre for Performing Arts in Newnan at 7 p.m. This is the 10th consecutive year for the pageant and all girls – freshman through seniors are eligible to participate. The winner receives a savings bond as do the first and second runner up. Contestants are judged on presentation, poise, scholarship and appearance. There are also awards for Most Photogenic and four grade-level princesses will be crowned.

Fayette Coweta Family Theatre has changed the dates and times of their upcoming auditions for their family musical "Disney's AristoCats, Kids." Auditions will now be held on Saturday, October 27.

Bargain hunters can visit over 50 yard sales in one location at the seventh annual Harvest Yard Sale on Saturday, October 20 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sponsored by the Fayette County Parks and Recreation Department, this community-wide sale will be held at the Activities House parking lot at 980 Redwine Road in Fayetteville. Shoppers at past sales have come from Atlanta to Meriwether County, Griffin to Newnan and everywhere in between.

The Tony-nominated Broadway musical comedy "The Wedding Singer" debuted in Atlanta on October 16 and will conclude its run at The Fabulous Fox Theatre this weekend.

Based upon the 1998 hit film that starred Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, which grossed over $120 million worldwide, “The Wedding Singer" takes a turn as a high-energy stage production set in the 1980s when junk bonds, “Dynasty,” Duran Duran and leg warmers were the order of the day.

The annual luminary sale to benefit the J.C. Booth Middle School band program is again underway. Band students are selling luminary kits for $4. Each kit contains six bags, six candles and sand. Proceeds from the sale are used for instruments, music and other program expenses.

Stars on the Southern Crescent Coffee House’s Celtic Christmas Festival is seeking volunteers for their shows scheduled for Nov. 16-18.

The Atlanta Chamber Players (ACP) will open their 32nd season in a celebrated return to Spivey Hall on Sunday, October 21 at 3 p.m.

Crystal Swygert, lead singer for Crystal & the Cruizers, is telling south side residents to hold on their hats—cowboy hats, that is.

Stars on the Southern Crescent Coffee House’s Celtic Christmas Festival is seeking volunteers for their shows scheduled for Nov. 16-18.

Carve your pumpkin, sew your costume, gather your goody bag and head toward downtown Fayetteville for the Great Pumpkin Festival on Saturday, Oct. 27 at the Old Courthouse Square and the Stonewall Village complex.

Annual event celebrates history, entertains audiences

This weekend Peachtree City will host the largest military flying demonstration in the state for the year, thanks to the United States Air Force and the tenth edition of The Great Georgia Airshow (GGAS). The air show, a much-anticipated annual event, kicks off tomorrow and will run through Sunday at Falcon Field. Produced by the Kiwanis Club of Peachtree City and the Commemorative Air Force (CAF), Dixie Wing, the event will combine spectacular aerobatics, an unprecedented collection of modern military aircraft, and a birthday celebration to do good in the local community. Proceeds from the two day event benefit local non-profit organizations, including school groups and Scouts.

The Farrelly brothers return to their raunchy, raucous roots with this remake of “The Heartbreak Kid” and it works, for awhile, and then something misfires somewhere and it kinds of loses you.

The Advanced 2 Drama class at Starr's Mill will present Jim Leonard's “Anatomy of Gray” on October 11, 12 and 13 at 7 p.m. in Willie Duke Auditorium.

Last Friday Mike Boylan and I were discussing what movies we were going to see for this week’s reviews during our new entertainment podcast, “The Citizen Popcast.” We came to the conclusion that there was really only one new movie coming out that was worth seeing, “The Heartbreak Kid.” So it looked like it was time for another head to head review. The last time Mike and I did this, we both saw “A History of Violence.” That film quickly found its way into my list of least favorite films of all time, while, for Mike, it climbed its way to one of his top films of the year.

One of the region’s most highly anticipated band competitions is set for this Saturday at South Gwinnett High School in Snellville, Ga. Featuring top marching bands from high schools in four southeastern states, the Southern Star Invitational is expected to draw thousands of spectators. This year both McIntosh and Whitewater high schools have been invited to participate in the event.

Silk Chocolate, the sophisticated musical duet of Lucille and George Dobrin, will perform at Heritage of Peachtree Independent and Assisted Living community on Oct. 17 from 2 to 3 p.m.

The Fayette Family YMCA will host Family Mystery Spectacular, a family Halloween event, on Saturday, Oct. 20 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the YMCA, 215 Huiet Road, Fayetteville. This event features ghost storyteller Ray Greene and kicks off a Reading Tree Literacy campaign. The afternoon includes pumpkin carving, story telling, book collection and a costume parade.

Carve your pumpkin, sew your costume, gather your goody bag and head toward downtown Fayetteville for the Great Pumpkin Festival on Saturday, Oct. 27 at the Old Courthouse Square and the Stonewall Village complex.

Ed Francisco, Pulitzer Prize nominee in both fiction and poetry, will discuss Southern literature in the third installment of Gordon College’s year-long Southern Culture Series on November 1.

Annual fund raiser takes place Saturday

It started in the fall of 2000 as an alternative fund raising opportunity for south-siders wanting to benefit the Alzheimer’s Association without driving up to Atlanta every year for their annual Memory Walk. Now, seven years later and over $1 million raised and donated to the association, the Southern Crescent Memory Walk will take place Saturday morning in Peachtree City at the Frederick Brown, Jr. Amphitheater.

Annual bbq cook-off this weekend

For the third year, teams across Georgia will be gathering to compete in the annual Coweta Up In Smoke barbecue cook-off, October 6.

The cook-off will be held at the Coweta Fairgrounds and Conference center again this year and event activities will kick off at 9 a.m. on Saturday.

Before I saw this film I commented to Emily Baldwin, our weekend editor, that after the last two movies I saw, “The Kingdom” would look like “Citizen Kane” in comparison.

Fayette Coweta Family Theatre (FCFT) will perform Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” this weekend with fifty-three adults, teens and preteens among the cast.

Peachtree City will host the largest military flying demonstration in the state this year, thanks to the United States Air Force and the 10th edition of The Great Georgia Airshow (GGAS). GGAS will be presented Saturday, October 13 and Sunday, October 14 at Falcon Field, Peachtree City, Ga. The air show, produced by the Kiwanis Club of Peachtree City and the Commemorative Air Force (CAF), Dixie Wing, will showcase an unprecedented array of modern military aircraft.

Popcast, episode 2 by Michael Boylan and Emily Baldwin