He has a radio program on WXOU out of Oakland University
Wild At Heart
Now that I have access to post whenever I want, I plan on taking full advantage today because there are a lot of things going on I didn’t mention Monday that you fans need to know about. Starting off, anyone going to see the American Idols tonight? It seems to me more like American Karaoke esp when we know we are going to mostly hear cover songs for the majority of the show by a lot of people who are going to be out of music by next season. Anyway, let’s move on.
The reason I brought up Idol is so that I could segue into a song contest put on by BET that ties into the new Tyler Perry film "I Can Do Bad All By Myself" that has appearances by Mary J Blige and Gladys Knight, both of whom we all know can sing. But can you? For the opportunity you need to do a gospel song, either solo or as a group and then upload your video and have people rate it. Winners will be chosen based on originality, talent and creativity! The best performance will be shown on BET and the winner will receive $2500 gift card. Just go to http://icandobadgospelcontest.com for official rules. The movie will be in theatres on Sept 11th but you only have until September 7th, 2009 to get you video online. Good luck!!
Another chance of fame will hit this weekend as Metromix (yes the competition) teams up with CW50 to host a Casting Call for Detroit’s Gossip Girls (it is a celebrity news and gossip website) @ V nightclub inside the MGM Grand on Friday, August 28, from 6-10PM. They are looking for 3 women over 21 years old (which is similar to my goals). Once again, good luck and to fill out an application and for official rules and information, please visit CW50detroit.com.
At the Michigan International Speedway on Friday, September 11, 2009 from 7:00AM to 6:45PM, you can register to give blood. This is an appointment only event and should appeal to race fans because not only do you get a gift bag and other surprises, but you also get a tour of the track. So if that appeals or you just want to support a worthy cause, call 1-800-YOU-GAVE ext. 317 or visit SpiritofAmericaBloodDrive.com.
This Saturday, Aug 29th movie lovers can go online to the Arab Museum national Museum website at http://www.arabamericanmuseum.org/amreekamichiganpremiere and reserve tickets for the 9:30PM showing of the movie "Amreeka". This is a second screening since the first one sold out so act fast. . Tickets are $7 while Museum Members pay $6. Writer/Director Cherien Dabis will be in attendance for both post-screening question & answer sessions and I will be interviewing her about the movie, which will air closer to the release date. The movie is centered on an immigrant single mother, Muna (Nisreen Faour) and her teenage son, Fadi (Melkar Muallem) who move to a small town in Illinois from the military occupied West Bank. Based on the preview I watched on youtube, the movie seems to take a look at the prejudices faced by foreigners in the US while looking at the importance of family and the sacrifices we make for those we love. The clips I’ve seen show a bit of heart without being too preachy. It took the FIPRESCI at Cannes this past year that is given out by film critics and journalists.
While I am thinking about it, I guess I should mention that the "DISNEY’S A CHRISTMAS CAROL" Train Tour rolls into Henry Ford Museum here in Detroit on September 4-6, offering visitors an exclusive 3D sneak peek from the movie as well as a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the making of the movie. The train will have artifacts and character designs housed in real train cars. Best of all, this family event is totally free! Make your plans now!
Don’t forget that you only have two days left to get to Ann Arbor to see the "Clues Behind Sherlock Holmes" exhibit at the University Of Michigan Special Collections Library. The exhibit features a number of old books and other items related to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Besides the most famous detective, they have books from other facets of his career, esp his work with the English war propaganda department and some work on spiritualism and fairies. It is a nice collection of Doyle works for the book lover.
Speaking of loving books, Fantagraphics has just put out a wonderful collection of "Sam’s Strip" which is a newspaper comic strip which ran from 1961-63 and was created by Mort Walker and Jerry Dumas (who worked together on ‘Hi And Lois’ and ‘Beetle Bailey’) and eventually morphed into the popular strip "Sam And Silo” (1977-present). While never overly popular with the general public, the strip was much appreciated by other cartoonists of the time. In “Sam’s Strip”, the title character, Sam, was aware of being the proprietor of the comic strip in which he appeared. The character routinely broke down the fourth wall talking to the readers as well as having guest appearances by other classic comic strip characters like Happy Hooligan, Popeye, Charlie Brown, Pogo and Krazy Kat. While common place today with writers like Gary Larson and Berke Breathed, this was very new to the readers of the 60’s and they weren’t ready to think so hard over their Saturday morning comics. It is an excellent collection of the strip’s 20-month run with nice commentary on some strips by Dumas. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!
Another nice book is “Was Superman A Spy” by Brian Cronin. Brian writes a blog called Comics Should Be Good at Comic Book Resources (www.cbr.cc) and has spent a lot of time looking into Urban Legends surrounding comic book characters. This book is the culmination of that research which has a lot of interesting facts about the industry. For example, did you know that Danish inventor Karl Kroyer was denied a patent for a device to raise sunken ships in the Netherlands because Carl banks used that method in a Donald Duck comic strip? And he did it 15 years before Kroyer. The method using ping pong balls in the strip was part of an episode of Mythbusters in 2004. BTW, the method worked! Other stories you will hear about include how the Death Of Superman series came about, why Captain America has a round shield, the original plans for Wolverine’s origin and which Marvel character got it instead, what comic book helped MIT get a $50 million dollar grant, why the Human Torch was not in the 70’s Filmation Fantastic Four TV series, etc. Upon reading the book, I knew most of these stories but for those who haven’t been exposed, this book does a nice job showing the little things that have changed the characters we have grown up to love. One last bit of trivia from the book for X-Men fans. The character of Nightcrawler was originally a rejected character from a Legion Of Superheroes spin-off entitled “The Outsiders”. DC editor Murray Boltinoff didn’t like his look so when so after Dave Cockrum moved to DC, he pitched the character for the new X-Men revamp and the rest is history. It is a nice quick read and the blog is cool too.
Have a good weekend everyone. The sun is now out where I am so I might head back and check out the pool. Take care!!