The Voices in Frank's Head

Today would have been Alfred Hitchcock's 109th birthday. Where ever he is, I hope he still gets to see some really great movies. If there's any justice in the world, when he reached the Pearly Gates a little over 28 years ago, I hope that St. Peter handed him an Academy Award to make up for all of the Oscars that he should have won. Happy birthday, Mr. Hitchcock!

Sydney Pollock passed away yesterday at the age of 73 after battling cancer. He was a two-time Academy Award winning actor, director and producer. As a director, he was the creative force behind such landmark films as Tootsie and Out of Africa . Earlier in his career, Sydney Pollock worked with Alfred Hitchcock when Mr. Pollock directed two episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour . As an actor, he appeared in a wide variety television shows and movies - from 1950s Have Gun Will Travel and The Twilight Zone to modern classics such The Sopranos and King of the Hill . Sydney Pollock will be missed.

I am a Netflix addict. Thanks to this service I've seen almost every movie Alfred Hitchcock ever made (except for a couple of his old silent ones that aren't available on DVD anywhere). I even saw his two World War II propaganda films that he made with the intention of rallying the French to resist German occupation - only to be the British government kill them because they were too anti-German. I've also seen everything that Keira Knightley has ever appeared in simply because, well, she is Keira Knightley and I would pay good money to watch that woman eat a bowl of corn flakes in the morning. Anyway, I mention all of this because I once again have an email invitation to give someone a free month of Netflix. If you would like it, please let me know.

Memorial Day Weekend 2007 is now in the history books. 4th Friday was an unqualified blast. The press conference went off without a hitch. After it, I managed to sneak over to the Ren Cen to see Keira Knightley in Pirates of the Caribbean . The movie was so good that I would have been happy to watch even if it didn't have Keira in it. Of course, the fact that it did have her in it just made things that much better. Later that night, Mitch Ryder proved that he can still rock just as hard as he did years ago. I was introduced to The Flask , a new rock band that includes Kid Rock's former lead guitarist Kenny Olson - they were scary good. Take a look at their MySpace page for a list of upcoming shows and samples of their music. If any of them are near you, I definately recommend checking them out. Oh, and after all of the concerts, there was some guy who showed a few indie films in Campus Martius Park. After that ended at around 1 in the morning, Nicole and I headed...