The Voices in Frank's Head

When Santa Claus brings you coal, you may as well have a bar-barque. This, my friends, is the up-side to being on Santa's "Naughty List" every year.

I want to take a moment to wish a very merry Christmas to everyone who takes the time to read my blog. I enjoy being a small part of your life and look forward to more in 2012. Merry Christmas everyone!

Only 11 more days until Speaker John Boehner causes a tax hike for every working American. With an 11% approval rating, how will he be able to afford his spray on tan once he's voted out of office?

Courtney Stodden Looks Both Naughty and Nice Courtney Stodden posed for a series of photos with her husband, Doug Hutchinson , which almost make one forget that she is only 17 years old and her husband is 51. She looks quite naughty in her metallic red bikini. Her husband is almost completely hidden by the Santa Claus costume. Yes, I almost forgot about the 34 year age difference between Courtney Stodden and Doug Hutchinson. Almost. One can see more of Courtney Stodden's photos with husband Doug Hutchinson here .

It's a little known fact that every time you hear a bell ring, it means that another 19 year old single mom has learned to pole dance. Knowledge, my friends, is power.

Lindsay Lohan - 40+ Lindsay Lohan's photo shoot with Playboy has found its way on-line . She was supposedly trying to recreate Marilyn Monroe's last known photo shoot. Someone told her that this would revive her career. Unfortunately, no one told her to look in the mirror. Looking at this woman in the Playboy photos, I can't believe that she's only 25 years old. If I didn't know better, I would swear that Lindsay Lohan was in her 40s. The calender says Lindsay Lohan is only 25 years old, but the Playboy photos say she is at least 40.

I am falling in love with Sean Quigley's  version Little Drummer Boy . It has a strong rock and roll influence, but maintains the timeless quality of the original carol. I'm amazed that this video was created by a 16 year old high school student from Winnipeg, Canada.

Herman Cain has suspended his campaign for the White House. However, I'm sure that we will hear a lot more from in the months to follow and, for this, I am thankful. The man makes Christmas come every day for liberals.

The folks at Syfy have release all-new sneak peeks for the upcoming Holiday Episodes for Eureka , Warehouse 13, and Haven premiering next Tuesday, December 6. In Eureka , Jack and Jo find themselves lost on their way to the photon generator and appear to run into the nature-loving Taggart, who has transformed into a polar bear living in an ice cave. Hospitable Taggart quickly offers penguin tartar when not before long, Jack gets nauseated at the sight and runs off looking for Andy. In the Warehouse 13 sneak peek, Pete is seen reaching high on the shelves to put back Rudolph's nose, when suddenly he falls on the slippery snow on the ground, taking down several other pieces with him. He returns these items back onto the shelf and heads back inside. Upon entering he notices two investigators and quickly asks Pete to show his hands. Taking it as a prank from Artie, Pete tells him to come out but instead we see MacPherson a...

A group of nightclub owners got together in the midst of the NBA lockout and decided a topless basketball league would be a great idea to keep interest up in the sport since there probably wasn’t going to be a season, according to the Courier Mail . I would like to take a moment to say that I love America.

The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show just finished its annual telecast for 2011. It was another outstanding telecast. They refer to it as "the sexiest hour of television" and it certainly lived up to its billing. The outfits were amazing and sexy. The musical performances by Kanye West , Maroon 5 , and Nicki Minaj  were each top-notched as well. All of it added up to fantastic television. Personally, I would have liked to have seen less "behind the scenes" footage and more of the show itself. (In my opinion, "behind the scenes" stuff is better for the internet.) However, I have come to accept that I am in the minority opinion on that one.

Pan Am - Continuing for a Full Season Karine Vanesse , one of the stars of ABC's new drama  Pan Am , tweeted earlier today that the show had been cancelled. ABC, however, was quick to announce that it had not  been canceled . And now, it was announced on the  Pan Am  Facebook page  that the show will continue for a full season. I don't know the source of this confusion. However, I 'm thrilled that this show will continue. It has a lot of potential, in my opinion, and is really starting to get good.

Keira Knightley Keira Knightley  - or rather her voice - is in the Syfy original movie Neverland , which premieres Sunday, December 4th and Monday, December 5th at 9/8c. When I saw the trailer for this one, two thoughts came to mind. First, I think this will be a really good movie. I like the idea of showing what Peter Pan was like before we got to know him in that classic tale. Second, this trailer confirms that Keira Knightley can indeed drive me wild with nothing more than her voice. I think it's because her voice reminds me of the rest of her.

Candy Spelling had just 30 days to move out after closing the sale on Spelling Manor, the 56,500 square foot family home where she and television producer, the late Aaron Spelling entertained presidents, royalty and Hollywood legends. HGTV's Selling Spelling Manor  will premiere on Thursday, December 15 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The show invites viewers along as Candy gives an exclusive tour of the mansion's more than 15 specialty areas, including a bowling alley; a billiard room; an arcade; a collector's gallery with more than 700 dolls; a projection room with a large-scale screen and full surround sound; a china room; a silver room with place settings for more than 50; a gift room with accompanying custom-designed gift-wrapping room; a design studio to capture photos of jewelry and other personal items for online auctions; and a collection fine art originals, including one of the famous Dogs Playing Poker paintin...

I very well may be the only person in Detroit who feels this way, but I'm happy that Nickelback is going to play the halftime show on Thursday. The way I figure it, no matter what happens on Thanksgiving, we're pretty much guaranteed that the Detroit Lions won't have the worst performance of the day.

Geek Love  is a a two-part special that is coming to TLC on December 18th at 9PM (ET/PT). I'm already falling in love with the show, just from the video clip above. Nerd-tastic Ryan Giltch , founder of Sci-Fi Speed Dating, will bring viewers into the fun, quirky and sometimes bizarre world of geek-focused speed dating on TLC's new special Geek Love . Two half hour specials have been ordered and will air back to back  Glitch sets up speed dating at events like Comic-Con, bringing like-minded people together to embrace their quirkiness and find love. When comic and sci-fi fans can't find someone to share their passion, they turn to Glitch. Viewers will get an insider's look at the stories behind the daters and witness their journey throughout the speed dating session at New York's Comic-Con.

She Wears an Yellow Bikini in Honor of Lee Pockriss Lee Pockriss , who wrote such catchy songs as "Itsy, Bitsy, Teeny, Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini", passed away at his home last week at the age of 87. He went on to write music for The Muppets  as well as movies like Sister Act 2  and Revenge of the Nerds 2 . Lee Pockriss will be missed by all who love music.

A press release came across my desk recently, announced that John Myhre  had been named production designer for the 84th Annual Academy Awards. The odd thing is that I had to do a double take when I saw it. I could have sworn, when I first saw it, that it said John Mayer  was named production designer for the telecast. This prompted me to wonder why a singer was designing the production - for about 5 seconds until figured it all out. Will someone please tell me that I'm not the first person to confuse John Myhre with John Mayer?

Comedy Central announced yesterday that will extend cable television's longest-running animated series, South Park . The deal for three additional seasons ensures the top-rated Emmy® and Peabody Award-winning series will remain in original episodes through 2016 and a milestone 20th season. Trey Parker and Matt Stone will continue to write, direct, and edit every episode of South Park , as they have since the premiere of this series in 1997. I'm happy to see South Park  continue. Of course, I also can't help but wonder if Comedy Central is financing this entire project by cashing in on Kenny's life insurance policies.

I posted two weeks ago about how Gold Rush  was the number one television show among men - excluding the Game 7 of the World Series - which, I thought, really wasn't saying a whole lot. However, for last week, they were simply the number one show on television for men - without any exclusions. The all-new premiere of Discovery Channel's hit series Gold Rush on Friday, November 11 was the number one program in all of television during prime time (no exclusions) among Men 25 - 54 ratings and delivery.  The third episode of season two, titled "Family Feud," was also #2 in all of television among Men 18 - 49 (behind  only College Basketball on ESPN). This week's premiere telecast earned a 2.84 HH / 2.11 P25-54 AA%, delivering an average of 4.15 million viewers (P2+).  As with last  week, Gold Rush was the top program in key demographics, finishing as the #1  cable program (no exclusions) among Persons 25-54 / 18-49...

Irish Dancing Tweens (working title), is a new show from TLC, is set to begin production this week. Eight-episodes have been ordered and will take viewers into the world of competitive Irish Dance. Behind the military-precise team dances and fey-like solo routines is the harsher reality of the dance world - demanding coaches, competitive mothers, and hours upon hours of practice. The series will make its US debut in the summer of 2012 and its international debut later in the year. I have to admit - I didn't even know that there was  such a thing as "competitive Irish Dance."

Justine Ezarik There's a theory that all of us have a doppleganger. That is someone who naturally looks just like us. I believe that I have found Justine Ezarik's doppleganger. She, of course, is more commonly known as iJustine  and she creates videos for YouTube. Her doppleganger's name is Svetlana , although her last name is unknown. She is from Kherson , which is medium sized city (population 329,000) in southern Ukraine. Of course, Svetlana doesn't make videos for YouTube like her double. Instead, she is on-line looking for a husband. She is a 22 year old manicurist and mail order bride. Svetlana All of this makes me wonder if any of iJustine's fans would consider marrying Svetlana and bringing her to the United States so they could have their own Justine Ezarik. I also wonder if Justine Ezarik has ancestors from the Ukraine. If so, Svetlana could be a long lost cousin of hers. You can see more iJustine/Justine Ezarik here . More inform...

Donald Trump , the man who once promised to bring us shocking new details about President Barack Obama's  birth certificate, has a special on the Discovery Channel later this evening. In it, he will discuss how much America is worth - from our infrastructure to our real estate. This looks interesting, but it would still have a lot more credibility if it wasn't hosted by Donald Trump. Or, as I prefer to think of him, America's Birther-in-Chief.

Better Looking Than A Power Tool An article published in Scientific American  recently suggests that men tend to view a woman dressed in a bikini in much the same way that they would view tools. Quite frankly, I find this conclusion hard to believe. Perhaps we should test this theory by having a group of women walk around town in bikinis, with each one carrying a power tool. This would be purely in the interest of science, of course.

Oscar Night - No Gay-Bashing and Actually Funny Brett Ratner  resigned as producer of the 84th Annual Academy Awards in the wake an uproar from anti-gay comments that he made. The Academy released a statement saying, in summary, that they wished him well but that derogatory comments such as his had comments. Soon after, it was announced that Eddie Murphy  had resigned as host of the Oscars. He was, of course, a longtime creative partner of Mr. Ratner's. Personally, I think this is a great combination of resignations. It means that there probably won't be any gay-bashing at the Oscars this year and we'll be able to get a host who is actually funny.

I know three simple words that have the potential to change your life forever. Forever. Those words are: Jet. Pack. Lessons. Who wants to join me?

Amanda Seyfried will appear in a biopic of Lucy Loveless, the star of the legendary porn flick Deep Throat . Also, ABC has ordered 5 new episodes of the show Pan Am .

Doron Ofir Casting and the producers of the hit series and the forerunner of television's popular antiques and collectibles genre, Antiques Roadshow , are currently casting for a new adventure for treasure seekers:  Antique  Market Wars . Antique Market Wars is a brand new competition series in which four antiques professionals will embark on a nationwide treasure hunt for vintage valuables and find out once and for all which expert has the best eye for antiques. These antiquers aren't your amateur-weekend-flea-market hobbyists - they are pros, here to compete against each other in a once-in-a-lifetime cross-country trip to uncover hidden gems and rusty gold. If you or someone you know is an authority on antiques - whether it be Hollywood memorabilia, Renaissance furniture, Japanese art or the American Frontier -- the producers want to hear from you! Experts in all fields of antiques are encouraged to apply for t...

I got a press release today from someone who obviously doesn't have a calendar handy. It starts out: New Viral Site Just In Time for Halloween | Courtesy of THE WOMAN IN BLACK The emphasis on the words "just in time for Halloween" is, of course, mine. Did I mention that I received this today ?

The trailer for Keira Knightley's  new movie A Dangerous Method  is now on-line. I was excited about this movie when I first heard about it because: This film involves Keira Knightley getting spanked and I'm a pervert. However, as I watch the trailer, I have to confess that the film contains other exciting elements beyond simply spanking Keira Knightley. It looks like a really great and truly thought-provoking film from director  David Cronenberg and writer  Christopher Hampton . But I'm still a pervert.

Article first published as TV Review: Pan Am - The Genuine Article on Blogcritics. Episode 6 of this season’s Pan Am aired this past Sunday. It featured Maggie (played by Christina Ricci ) trying to hold onto her job at the airline during a flight to Rio de Janeiro and showed us why that job is so important to her. Meanwhile, Kate (played by Kelli Garner ) stayed in New York to handle a difficult mission for the CIA. This episode, quite frankly, reminded me of A Tale of Two Cities – and not just because of its frequent references to world literature. It really was the best of times and the worst. Maggie - before becoming a Pan Am stewardess The story arc that found Maggie in Rio was spectacular. It showed us much of Maggie’s back story without getting in the way of its main story. The interplay between Maggie and Laura (played by Margot Robbie ) reminded us why these are two of the most critically acclaimed young actresses in the business today. They took each...

The Discovery Channel sent around a press release today, touting the fact that their new show,  Gold Rush was the number on program in all of television Friday night among men - excluding Game 7 of the World Series. The last seven words in that sentence change a lot of things. It's like the New York Mets issuing a press release saying that they're the best baseball team in New York, with the exception of the Yankees. Okay - that's not entirely true. There's a lot of other programming on Friday night television besides Gold Rush and the World Series. Regardless, the fact that the World Series was a part of the equation does change a lot of things. Let's see if Gold Rush  can continue to hold it own in the weeks to come.

Article first published as TV Review: Pan Am - The Season Thus Far on Blogcritics. Pan Am is a new period drama that appears Sundays on ABC that revolves primarily around the lives of four Pan Am stewardesses, although the pilots are a large part of the story as well. This is one of those shows that started out as “just okay,” in my opinion, but over the past five episodes has evolved quickly into one of the best shows on television today. Pan Am isn’t just good these days – it’s a serious contender for multiple Emmy nominations. The Pan Am  Stewardesses In the first episode, the script for Pan Am almost seemed too eager to tell everyone the back story about this airline, the dawn of the jet age, and the characters. Since then, the show has really hit its stride. We’re still discovering more about each of the characters, but it has become a part of the story instead of an intrusion into it. The show is set in 1963 and there were a lot of important historical ev...

Stephen King's   Bag of Bones , will soon become a four-hour epic miniseries based on The New York Times  #1 bestselling novel. This will also be Pierce Brosnan's return to television. The two-night event premieres on Sunday, December 11 and concludes on Monday, December 12, airing at 9 p.m. ET/PT on both nights. Bag of Bones is a ghost story of grief and lost love's enduring bonds, about an innocent child caught in a terrible crossfire and a new love haunted by past secrets. Melissa George ("In Treatment"),  Annabeth Gish ("Brotherhood"), A nika Noni Rose (Dreamgirls), William Schallert ("The Patty Duke Show"), Jason Priestley ("Beverly Hills, 90210") and Caitlin Carmichael ("True Blood") also star. In Bag of Bones , bestselling novelist Mike Noonan (Brosnan) is unable to stop grieving after the sudden death of his wife Jo (Gish). Suffering from writer's block, a dream inspires him to return to the couple...

I learned, thanks to a Google News Alert, that  Ridley Scott  will soon have an eight-part series entitled "Prophets of Science Fiction" on the Science Channel starting on Wednesday, November 9. He is, of course, the creative genius behind such movies as  Alien , Blade Runner,  and  Gladiator . I'm glad that I saw this because, quite frankly, I didn't even know that there was a Science Channel. 

Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes , issue 1 IDW Publishing and DC Comics are launching a crossover comic book series that will feature the cast of the original Star Trek  television series and The Legion of Super Heroes . This series is supposed to last for six monthly issues, with the first issue available in comic book stores now. I usually cringe at the mention of a crossover. However, the mix of characters in those two story universes gives this one some serious potential. In the first issue, the original Starship Enterprise crew beam down to a planet, only to discover that it isn't the right destination or time period. Meanwhile, a group of "Great Darkness Saga" Legionnaires travel to the same planet; discovering that they aren't in the right place or time either. The meeting of these two groups is a cliche. However, the interplay and witty banter that takes place between the Star Trek  and Legion of Super-Heroes characters makes it worthwhile. ...

Stephan Labossiere , a relationship consultant, has authored a new book entitled How to Get a Married Woman to Have Sex with You - If You're Her Husband . The publisher even came up with a provocative video to help promote the book.  I'll just say this: once upon a time, there would be absolutely no need for a book like this.

Some interesting press releases find their way into my email in-box. I got this one from a group called Fight for the Future. It's one of the more interesting ones that I've received and I will post in its entirety below, without any further editing, just because I find it so provocative. Justin Bieber - Headed to Jail WORCESTER, MA -- Fight for the Future (FFTF), a new organization vowing to fight for Americans' tech freedoms, warns Justin Bieber and his fans that the teen pop sensation could suffer five brutal years in prison if a bill pending in the Senate becomes law. S.978 (text below) by Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) would make it a felony for Internet users to stream unlicensed content 10 times in 180 days. The bill is being pushed by the Recording Industry Association of America, the Motion Picture Association of America, and others who seek to crush to Internet freedoms for the sake of higher corporate profits. ...

The new trailer for The Muppets is now on-line. The movie will be released this Thanksgiving and, judging from the trailer, it is going be a really entertaining show. I'm thrilled that I'll be able to see Neil Patrick Harris and Jason Segel on screen in something other How I Met Your Mother . I love that show, but it's still refreshing to see them play a different character.

A conservative acquaintance of mine posted on Facebook that, in his opinion, everyone who voted for President Barack Obama owed this nation an apology. Because I'm in an accommodating mood, I have decided to go ahead and honor his request. I apologize for voting for President Barack Obama in 2008. I apologize in advance for my intention to do such a thing again in 2012. I'm sorry that the War in Iraq is coming to an honorable end. I'm sorry that Obama bin Laden and several other key terrorist leaders are dead. I'm sorry that an economy, which  was losing 750,000 jobs per month when President Obama took office, has now had 19 consecutive months of private sector job growth. I'm sorry that DADA has been repealed and that our troops won't have to betray their integrity in order to defend this great nation. I'm sorry that President Obama actually responded to natural disasters and oil spills instead of just saying what a "heckuva job...

Kristen Haglund Wants in Your In-Box My latest side project is the Bikini Day blog, which on-line here . I have a lot of blog posts that involve women in a bikini or in lingerie and there's potential for a lot more of them. I decided to move all of them to a separate site. I started the site with a few of my older bikini posts. I will add a new one every day. (Hence the name, Bikini Day.) This enables me to keep the bikini and lingerie stuff around without it getting in the way of all of my other posts. Women in bikinis do tend to grab lots of attention and it sort dominates my blog as a result. As an added bonus, this also enables me to experiment with a few things that I may or may not incorporate in this blog or my neighborhood one . Please check out the Bikini Day blog and let me know what you think of it.

Marvel Studios announced on Friday that the trailer for next summer's most highly anticipated movie,  Marvel's The Avengers , has been downloaded over 10 million times in its first 24 hours on iTunes Movie Trailers , shattering the most-viewed trailer record in the site's history. Scarlett Johansson is the Black Widow The trailer, which debuted Tuesday, October 11, exclusively on iTunes Movie Trailers, gave fans a sneak peak at Marvel's The Avengers - the Super Hero team up of a lifetime-based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series The Avengers , first published in 1963 and a comics institution ever since. Marvel's The Avengers  unites the world's greatest super heroes when Iron Man ( Robert Downey, Jr. ), Thor ( Chris Hemsworth ), Captain America ( Chris Evans ), The Incredible Hulk ( Mark Ruffalo ), Hawkeye ( Jeremy Renner ) and Black Widow ( Scarlett Johansson ) join S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Nick Fury ( Samue...

After months of pissing off their customers with a significant rate increase and with a reorganization of the company that only seemed to remind everyone of why the facepalm was created, the folks at Netflix have finally managed to do something smart. I will give my esteemed readers a moment to recover from this shock. Anyway, Netflix and the CW Network announced today that Netflix will be the only online destination where viewers can instantly watch complete prior season of The CW's current scripted series as well as future shows. As part of this four-year output deal, Netflix has licensed the rights to stream more than 700 hours of previous-season episodes of The CW's young-skewing dramas as well as future programs. These rights extend for four years after each series, current or future, ends its broadcast run on the network. The CW content can also be made available via traditional syndication windows, electronic sell-through services and, ...

There's a new movie coming our next year called The Raven . It's inspired by the life and writings of Edgar Allan Poe . I've only seen the trailer and some of the press materials for it, but this one looks like it has a lot of potential. In this gritty thriller, Edgar Allan Poe (played by John Cusack ) joins forces with a young Baltimore detective (played by Luke Evans ) to hunt down a mad serial killer who's using Poe's own works as the basis in a string of brutal murders. Directed by James McTeigue ( V for Vendetta , Ninja Assassin ), the film also stars Alice Eve ( Sex and the City 2 ), Brendan Gleeson ( In Bruges ) and Oliver Jackson-Cohen ( Faster ). When a mother and daughter are found brutally murdered in 19th century Baltimore, Detective Emmett Fields discovers that this crime resembles a fictional murder described in gory detail in the local newspaper-part of a collection of stories penned by struggling writer and social pariah Edgar Allan Poe...

Today is the 162nd anniversary of death of Edgar Allen Poe . In honor of this occasion, let's take a moment to remember the man who taught us how scary the English language really can be.

I have just seen an amazing rack. And yes, I am talking about the pool balls that were racked in EyeHandy's latest instructional video, " How to Rack 9-Ball Pool with Savannah ." Or am I?

I have to admit that I cringed when I first heard that Disney was re-releasing The Lion King  in 3D. However, the 3D version of the movie has since gone on to bring in $80 million and counting. Quite frankly, I find it hard to cringe at $80 million. I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise then that the House of the Mouse will re-release four movies from their archives in 3D in the near future. Beauty and the Beast will be re-released in 3D on January 13, 2012; Disney • Pixar's Finding Nemo will be re-released in 3D on September 14, 2012; Disney • Pixar's Monsters, Inc.  will be re-released in 3D on January 18, 2013; The Little Mermaid  will be re-released in 3D on September 13, 2013 In addition, Monsters University , which is a prequel to the original Monsters, Inc.  movie, will arrive in theaters in Disney Digital 3D on June 21, 2013

I'm a PC, but I will still miss Steve Jobs . Rest in peace, sir. Your contributions to the world of computing, and the difference that you made in how we use computers, will be remembered for generations to come.

I came across the wonder of EyeHandy.com , which uses beautiful women in bikinis or lingerie to explain how to do certain things. Their most recent one introduces use the beautiful and talented Chelsea who shows us how to clean any mirror spotlessly  without any streaks, lint, or residue left behind. If you'll excuse me, thanks to Chelsea and the team at EyeHandy, I have a sudden desire to clean every mirror in my home. And for any raging feminist who happens to find this blog post, before you post any comments, I will simply ask: when was the last time you came across a bachelor who was suddenly motivated to do housework without any complaints?

After five months and one day of waiting, I finally got a response from that publisher in New York. They have decided to pass on the novel version of Roswell Chronicles . Interesting sidenote, my first reaction upon seeing their form letter was to say, "Oh, you idiots." I may or may not have including a profanity in there as well. Anyway, I shall tweak my manuscript and send it off to someone else later this week.

When I first commented on The Playboy Club  on this blog, I talked about how the frequent voice overs from Hugh Hefner  provided one more level of distraction in an otherwise busy plotline. I recommended that they get rid of them and keep the focus on the club that he created; not the man who created them. Rachel Nichols Strangely enough, by the time the second episodes hit the airwaves, those voice overs were gone. My suspicion is that NBC decided to be cheap and aired the original version of the pilot, which always contains a few things that need to be tweaked. Thus, when the show got better, not enough people knew about it because a lot viewers gave up on the show after the first episode - or sometime even in the middle of the first episode. I continue to think that if the writing was a bit tighter, the show could be a hit. Unfortunately, we won't get a chance to find our for certain anytime soon because NBC announced this afternoon that they were cancelling the ...

Pecha Kucha Night in Detroit The tenth installment of Pecha Kucha Night will be on Friday, October 11 at the historic Doubletree Suites in downtown Detroit. This is an excellent opportunity to see what some of the best creative minds in Michigan have been up to. If you, or someone that you know, would like to present at PKN X then please submit a 300 word summary of your work along with some sample image of it to pkndetroit [at] gmail [dot] com no later than October 23.

Waiting... I sent the novel version of Roswell Chronicles to a publisher in New York 5 months ago today. They promised a decision on whether or not they'll publish in 4 - 6 months. Quite frankly, I think my mailman is even more eager for them to make a decision. He's getting a little tired of me asking, "Anything from New York?" Anyway, as soon as I hear anything, you will hear about it.

Defeating Those Who Ban Books A student at an unnamed Catholic school, who identifies herself by the avatar name “Nekochan”, started an unofficial library of banned books that she runs out of her locker at school. She began to lend books to her classmates when her school banned a long list of classic titles, including The Canterbury Tales , Paradise Lost and Animal Farm . Quite frankly, the fact that this library is happening, and the books are reportedly quite popular with her classmates, gives an immeasurable amount of hope for the future. Read more about this secret library of banned book here .

357 Women - the Biggest Bikini Parade Once again, I am profoundly glad to have an internet connection. Without it, I wouldn't have known that 357 women in bikinis gathered on Australia's Gold Coast to set a Guinness World Record for the biggest-ever bikini parade. They squashed the previous record, which was 331 women parading in a bikini. That record was set in Cayman Islands last year. More information - as well as photographs and video - is all available here .

Another Detroit Lions Fan The Detroit Lions beat the Dallas Cowboys earlier today, 34 - 30. They are now off to a 4 - 0 start for the season and are going into a three game home stand at Ford Field. As I write this, the Detroit Tigers are also in the lead. They are currently beating the New York Yankees 4 - 0 in the 7th inning of game two of the American League Division Series. If the Tigers manage to hold onto this lead and win today, I very well may have a sports orgasm. That's kind of like a regular orgasm - just not as messy. Update @ 6:49 p.m. I feel good. Real good .

I believe that irony can best be exemplified by one seeing a banner ad for Bank of America on the Anon News website. Irony. Oh, sweet irony. Good night, everyone.

It all started back in 2003, for me. On the set of "Checking In" At the time, I was working on a feature-length documentary entitled  Checking In: The Story of the Book-Cadillac Hotel , which focused on the historic Book-Cadillac Hotel in downtown Detroit. The Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, which was the quasi-governmental agency that was working on redeveloping the hotel, wouldn't talk to me on camera about the project so I turned to some of the historic preservation groups, who were all too happy to talk about the hotel. Back then, I had already decided that I was going to leave Detroit permanently as soon as this project was done. Regardless, during that time, I met Francis Grunow . He invited me to attend a meeting of this new group called Detroit Synergy . I was hooked after that first meeting. I met so many people who had such energy, enthusiasm, and determination to get things done. I got involved in organizing a pub crawl where I met a man who ...