Sidewalk Scramble - A Local Movie Challenge

The Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival has an offshoot called Sidewalk Scramble. Three times a year, barring unforeseen difficulties, the Scramble is held and allows for teams to compete in a forty-eight hour film making contest for cash prizes. The goal of this event is to promote local filmmaking and to encourage those who may not have the time or commitment to make filming a full time job to get out and get creative. Teams usually exchange Inspirational Items, which can be props, themes, or even scripts which then are incorporated into short films. Entry fees are around $50 a team. Follow either of the links above for more information, or you can click on the link below to see one of the teams' videos that entered the Winter 2007 Scramble last month.

Outdoors - Vulcan Trail

Vulcan Trail is the best walking venue in Birmingham. Located under Vulcan Park, home of Birmingham’s cast iron God of forge and fire, it features some of the best free views of the city. All of downtown and much of the surrounding area is visible from vantages stretching the length trail. The path is paved and marked at each quarter mile, running a full mile in one direction. The trail can become crowded at times, especially in the early evening and on weekends when the weather is comfortable, but this can be avoided by going later in the evening or during midmorning hours before lunch. This is a dog-friendly trail, with plenty to keep the pooch occupied on the walk. Most bring leashes for their dogs but let their dogs wander if there aren’t many people around; only a few leave their leashes and manners at home. With the smell of Dreamland barbeque in the air and the occasional party at the Club or Vulcan Park’s reception center serenading the walker with soft music and loud laughter, you never entirely leave the city behind and the added ambiance in the midst of the natural surroundings only increases the uniqueness of this trail.

To visit the park, take I-65 or Red Mountain Expressway/US 31 to University Boulevard. Turn south on Twentieth Street and travel through Five Points South. Merge with Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard and head up the hill towards Vulcan. Parking is located to the right off Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard about a mile south of Five Points in the shadow of Vulcan.

Welcome to the Birmingham Overground!

As a Birminghamian, I'm subject to repeated "Oh, that's terrible," or "Oh my god! Borrow my gun and kill yourself NOW!" type comments when I travel and mention where I hail from. While there are always negative things to be said about any place you live Birmingham is not, as popular opinion holds, the seventh level of hell or just a place with a lot of gas stations on the way to Florida. I hope to sway a grudging respect to the Magic City if not at least a muttered apology from the people who hate Birmingham if only because they've never been here. If you've been here or want a write-up for a place you've heard about, drop us a line and we'll get to it as fast as we can.