The Voices in Frank's Head

Some nut case posted a comment on one of my YouTube videos , claiming that I would be dead in 7 days unless I re-posted that comment on 10 other videos within the next hour. I promptly deleted it as spam. I'm not at all worried about my health or longevity. However, if by some weird fluke, I actually do leave this world on August 7, 2007 then I ask all of my dear readers to watch The Ring in my honor.

The National Weather Service is calling for rain tomorrow in Detroit. Maybe it will happen. Maybe it won't. The one thing that I know for certain is that Cinema D: The Detroit Film Festival will go on as planned regardless. In fact, the entire 4th Fridays with Ford program is a go - rain or shine. We have a spacious tent reserved for tomorrow that will encompass most of the north lawn of Campus Martius Park . No matter what Mother Nature has in store for us, Cinema D will once again celebrate indie filmmaking in Detroit. Our features this month are Human Achievement , a feature-length drama by Dan Jones that won "Best Feature" at the East Lansing Film Festival, and Selitoya , a dramatic short film by Tim Krynicki that won "Best Short" at the Moving Media Festival earlier this year. In addition, we have free concerts from Lola Morales and Maxi Priest as well as the Black Bottom Collective. Really. How much better can it get? Oh, and let's not forget ...

I was scrolling through the Detroit Fashion Pages this afternoon, checking out their photos from recent events, and what do I see? Lil' ol' me. That's me in the charcoal gray suit talking with Stacy, a jewelry designer from Pontiac, and her bartender friend. We were on the veranda of the Detroit Yacht Club at sunset. My friend Dan's face is just barely visible to the right.

A little over a week ago, my brother Mark got a summons for jury duty. I took it as a opportunity to give him an inordinate amount of grief. Mark, of course, just smiled. Normally, I would feel guilty about making fun of someone misfortune - even if the "misfortune" is nothing more than jury duty. However, this is my brother. We've been given each other grief like this since he was still in diapers. But here's the thing: guess what I just got in the mail today. If and when Mark finds out, I am never going to hear the end of this one.

Today is Melissa Theuriau's 29th birthday. On the (very) remote chance that she ever finds her way to this blog, I wish you on the best on your birthday! You make me wish I paid more attention in French class.

Ann Marie Weinert , the kick ass narrator from my documentary on the Book-Cadillac Hotel in Detroit, made this short film called Strip Poker . It's funny as all heck. If only the video kept going for another few seconds.

I have to admit, there are moments when I didn't think it would arrive. But it's almost here. Just a couple more hours. And then it's the weekend. Tomorrow, I'm heading to Ann Arbor for a meeting with producer of my next film. It's also gives me a chance to grab some tacos from Tio's. (I don't know what they put in those things but their tacos are absolutely addictive.) As for the rest of my weekend, thanks to the folks at Netflix, I'm having a Godfather marathon; watching all three of "The Godfather" movies in a row. It's something that I've always wanted to do, but never got around to.

It was almost 700 years ago, on Friday, October 13th, 1307, that King Philip IV of France ordered his royal officers to arrest every member of the Knights Templar . Henceforth, whenever the 6th day of the week (Friday) was also the 13th day of the month, it has been considered a very bad omen. Of course, I have my own tradition for Fridays the 13th. I run out and buy a lottery ticket. I've always had reasonably good luck on this occasion, just not good enough to win the lottery - or at least not to date since today's drawing hasn't happen.

It was three years ago today that my father, also named Frank Nemecek , left this world after a long battle with asbestosis and pneumonia . Where ever you are, Dad, I miss you. July 12th will never again seem like just another day.

The old proverb insists that a picture is worth a thousand words. In some cases, like the one to the left, it's also worth a thousand laughs. Kudos to my friend Kim for posting this photo over on her MySpace page .

There was so much to do this past 4th of July weekend (and what a long one it was). I made a brief appearance at Cityfest on Saturday. For the most part, though, I just watched a lot of movies. Jessica Alba was amazing in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer . (I almost wrote that she was "fantastic" in that role, but saying that would just be too easy.) The movie really had everything you could want in a summer action flick including, well, Jessica Alba. Thanks to Netflix, I also saw: Who Killed the Electric Car? It was a great documentary about the EV1 , a battery electric car produced by GM and then abruptly pulled off the market. Whale Rider I've been meaning to see this movie for a couple of years now and I finally got a chance to. It was so good that I'm kicking myself for not renting it sooner. I also saw John Tucker Must Die . It's not a surprise that this one didn't pick up any Academy Award nominations, but it was still a fun movie to...

One of the great things about the web is that anyone can set up their own site. With a few million people doing it, you get a lot of stuff that's a waste of your time and some that just plain crack me up. Enter: Hot Chicks with Douchebags

To all of my neighbors south of the border: Happy Canada Day! To all of my fellow Detroiters: isn't it great that we're the only people, besides Santa Claus and his elves, who get to call Canadians our neighbors to the south?