The Voices in Frank's Head

Okay - I just got back from Illuminate. It was fantastic - but I'm too wired to sleep at the moment. I was tempted to go out somewhere else, but I'm doing a clean-up effort with the Super Bowl Host Committee tomorrow morning - so that's out. Anyway, I was sorting through my email and found something that I thing is totally freakin' hysterical. Go to Google and type in "Failure" in the search window. Click on "I'm Feeling Lucky" and see what you get. Someone within Google had to have set it up this way deliberately. We'll see how long this stays there.

I went to the grand opening of the Rowland Cafe last Thursday. It's been in the Guardian Building for awhile now, pretty much ever since Francis and Claire's wedding reception last May, in fact. Thursday, however, was their grand opening. Free coffee all day. I'm not much of a coffee fan, but as the Great Wise Men once said, "Free stuff is cool!" Amanda Box was there all day - slinging coffee for anyone who would care to drink it. Let's face it: she makes that place happen. They closed the day out with a bang - a fashion show that featured designs from the Pure Detroit Design Lab (coincidentally, owned by the same people). I snapped a few photos of the fashion show, Amanda and the rest of the day. You can find them in my Yahoo photo album .

Okay - so earlier this year we finally got rid of the Red Tinker-Toys along Washington Blvd. in downtown Detroit. And what happens next? The morons in the Michigan Department of Transportation decide to replace them with the Blue Tinkertoys of Taylor . Officially, they're part of a bridge over Telegraph Rd. along I-94. Built as an homage to football (because the Super Bowl is coming to town). They called it a "Gateway to Detroit." Urgh! Let's face it. The thing is ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. It's really that simple. Ugly. I swear, I could hand a bottle of Jack Daniels to any randomn homeless guy downtown and get a better design than that one. Plus, it took forever to build the darn thing - creating a traffic nightmare whenever I needed to go west of Detroit. It wouldn't be so bad if they just said, "hey, we built this really expensive bridge and it's blue." It would be easier for me to igorne it then. But that's not what happened. They...

Wow! I can't believe it's been an entire week since I've written anything. I swear, I'm having withdrawls or something. Anyway, I saw Domino last Wednesday. It was a decent movie, not fantastic but decent. The good news is that movie has Keira Knightley in it. It also has a good story line and acting. What I detested about the film was its "MTV Grittiness" - that is a sense of grittiness that you can tell was crafted by make-up artists and set designers. It simply doesn't even come close to looking real. (Hey - I was born and raised in Detroit: I know my grittiness and it's important to me). A part of me kept looking at everything on the set and wanting to completely redesign almost every aspect of it. The dirt. The blood spatter. Everything. All the music really didn't do much of anything for me. I think they spent so much money on make-up, dressing the set and that freakin' MTV-style editing that they could only afford no-name mus...

North Country , starring Charlize Theron , doesn't open in theaters until Friday, October 21st. However, I am so darn cool that I got to see it yesterday - more than a week ahead of everyone else. Well, okay - it's not really that I am oh-so-cool. It really has more to do with the fact that I did some pro bono work for the folks at the Michigan Production Alliance. This was their way of thanking me. On the whole, North Country movie was very good. I'm sure some of the cast will even pick up an Oscar nomination or two as a result of their performances. However, there was something about the script. It's hard to describe, but at the very end - I was left wanting more; something that wasn't there. It felt like biting into a hamburger, only to find nothing but burger and bun. No lettuce. No pickles or onions. No ketchup or mustard. Just the burger and the bun. It's that basic sense that there wasn't anything bad about what was there, just that there ...

I was in Lansing today, covering a couple of legislative meetings for my day job. One of the meetings was the Senate Natural Resources Committee. The Senate's full session ran over, which meant that all of the related committee meetings started late. How late, you ask? Late enough that I was able to read 3 magazines while waiting in the hearing room. Late enough that, when I ran out of reading material, I skipped out and grabbed a few more shots to add to my growing collection of digital photos of the State Capitol. (I swear, if this keeps up, in a few more months I'm going to publish my own photographic retrospective of the building). Anyway, I've got a few photos of the Capitol itself and the goings on inside of it on the web .

I logged on this morning and there were 18 emails in my in-box to deal with in one way or another. I've spent much of the day dealing with them and I still have 19 sitting in my in-box - 6 Post-It notes stuck by my computer with notes of stuff for me to do. Urgh! It never ends. Right now, I'm organizing both a fundraiser from the FoBC as well as the second round of a Preservation Summit involving 21 different historic preservation, civic and professional groups. Dang, my life is just so much fun! And you know what - right now I also have the hugest craving for Taco Bell. 2 bean burritos with sour cream and some fire sauce. Or maybe a Mexican Pizza. Dang - that sounds good. The only that doesn't sound good is the late night calories and my need to drop a few pounds. Urgh! Back to the emails.

So, I was originally scheduled to meet my friend Isaac for lunch at one of the coney islands downtown. About a half hour or so beforehand, he calls me and tells me to meet at Preservation Wayne's office instead. Anyway, I get there and promptly announces that he's leaving for the Gulf Coast soon. He apparently just got a contract through FEMA to do some consulting work down there for the next couple of months. It's a contract that's generous enough that a) we went to The Whitney instead and b) he picked up the check. I had my digital camera with me and snapped a few pics of The Whitney - it's a really cool restaurant, so cool in fact that I have trouble imagining it as a private residence even though I know that's what it was originally built as.

Earlier this year, I worked on an indie film project called The Passenger with the guys from Thought Collide. They're having a special screening of it at the Emagine Theatre in Novi this evening. A flyer for it is on-line at http://igorfilms.com/pics/thepassenger.flyer.jpg

I have a simple tip for anyone, and everyone, in Detroit. Next time you're downtown - stop by the Hard Rock Cafe. Ask if Emily is tending bar. If she is, then get down on your knees and beg her to make you a Sleepy Hallow Martini . Okay - you probably don't have to get down on your knees. Still, it's her own conconction and she won't give the recipe to anyone else. And it so darn good. Mmmm.... I'm getting thirsty just thinking about it. Sleepy Hallow Martini. For some reason, Blogger won't let me post a photo of it. Still you can see it at http://igorfilms.com/pics/sleepy.hallow.martini.jpg Mmm.... Even the URL seems yummy!

I hate my sinuses. I really do. And lately, as the weather is starting to change, I'm starting to think that they hate me, too.

This week has been insane - bouncing back and forth between Detroit and Lansing for work; plus taking care of dozen different details for Detroit Synergy. This past Thursday was Preservation Wayne's Honor Awards. I was one of the nominees in the Lucy Hamilton Education Honor Award (for my documentary on the Book-Cadillac Hotel ). I didnt' win, but it was still a very cool evening. I'll post more photos and pics later. For now, here's a quick pic of me with gang from Friends of the Belle Isle Aquarium.

Yes, I'm in love. Or at least severly infatuated. Melissa Theuriau is a French television reporter and arguably one of the most beautiful women I've even seen in my life. I'm sure there is some way in which she is less than perfect. I just can't seem to figure it out. Oh, wait - I got it - she lives a couple thousand miles away from me. *sigh* Please excuse me while I run off to my local bookstore for some French language books.

Quick Note: As of yesterday evening, I am now the public relations co-chair for Detroit Synergy . The three year old organization is obviously on hard times when they're willing to let someone like me grab a portion of the helm.

Bob Denver, who played Gilligan 0n Gilligan's Island , passed away today at the age of 70 after suffering from cancer. Where ever you are, Bob, here's hoping your know how much joy you brought into the lives of everyone. Your show was cancelled by a myoptic television network in 1967, but it found an unending life in the era of re-runs and syndication. Your jokes are still funny and you still bring joy to my life everytime I catch a moment of your show.

Okay - it really seems like former First Lady Barbara Bush is trying to be the Marie Antoinette of the 21st Century. When she was reacting to the plight of those who lost everything in New Orleans, and were now being relocated to Houston, Texas, she said, "And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them." Excuse me?!? They have just lost everything they own and have generally been through hell. No matter how hospitable the good people of Houston are, there is really no way that it could ever work out well for them; I don't care how underprivileged they were. Truly dispicable. http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001054719

This is the tail end of an interview with Aaron Broussard, President of Jefferson Parish in Louisianna. It is one of the most heart-breaking things I have ever seen or heard in my life. http://www.michaelmoore.com/_images/splash/aaron_broussard2.mov (requires a Quick Time player).

I just found the "Shoot bin Laden" game on-line. It is oh-so-very-tacky and yet oh-so-very-funny. http://www.danstoys.com/mod.htm My high score is 5,800.

As I scroll through the news this evening, I learn that William Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, has passed away after his battle with cancer. He was 80 years old and had lived a remarkable life. I was always impressed by the fact that, even after he was diagnosed and had reached a point in his life where no one would possibly fault him for retiring, he hung in there and continued serving on the Court. There can be no doubt that with two vacancies on the Court, there will be a considerable amount of commotion in the U.S. Senate as everyone wrangles over who should fill his shoes. Whoever the President nominates, and however the Senate responds, this person will have some impressive shoes to fill.

Michael Moore published an open letter to President George W. Bush on his web site. I think it's absolutely hysterical in its tone and terrifying in its accuracy. Vacation is Over... an open letter from Michael Moore to George W. Bush Friday, September 2nd, 2005 Dear Mr. Bush: Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag. Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with? Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people...