July 31, 2007
Maple Village is a veritable beehive of activity lately. A month or two ago, businesses started moving out of the wing which used to house The Village Theatre.
• Radio Shack moved out into a satellite building in the parking lot, as did Sofia's Tailoring.
• Panda House moved down into the crook of the L, into a space that used to have some kind of gaming store in it. We are more-frequent-than-we-should-be patrons (love that fried rice) and have been down to the new location a few times now. The new digs are nice, with the take-out and sit-down a little more integrated. There's a nice fountain in the waiting area now, too.
• The big project is what's going ...
May 14, 2007
It used to be that 'making breakfast for mama' involved me making my own breakfast with four extra little pudgy hands involved. Not so anymore. Sam did the scrambled eggs completely on his own and Jack made a cinnamon crumb cake (from a mix, but I'm not counting that against him) with only minimal help from me.
They cleaned the car, too. This required more supervision, but they did a fairly reasonable job. No more sticky stuff in the back seat, windows reasonably fingerprint-free, floors vacuumed. Not too shabby.
How is it that it's taken me this long to get to
The Shins? Oh, I've heard of them, they appear on various '
recommendation' lists of mine, etc. - but I ...
May 8, 2007
Just a reminder, folks. Tonight is the last
CinemaSlam. State
budget cuts for arts funding have forced the theater to cut programs, and CinemaSlam got the axe. Time: 7:00pm Cost: $5 (free if you're a theater member)
April 19, 2007
CinemaSlam got a mention in the
New York Times! Too bad it wasn't for something more pleasant:
Michigan Arts Groups Protest State Freeze
Groups representing Michigan’s public museums, theaters, music halls and other cultural institutions plan to rally at the state capital in Lansing today in hopes of lifting a freeze on state spending for the arts. The moratorium was ordered last month by the state’s governor, Jennifer M. Granholm, as part of efforts to head off a $686 million budget deficit. State law requires that any deficit must be wiped out by the end of the state’s fiscal year on Sept. 30. The governor’s action affects about $7.5 million of $10 million in ...
April 3, 2007
Buzz marketing for the young: Jack and friends took the
play pump fundraiser buttons to school yesterday and sold a number to kids and teachers. More interestingly, the teachers were so pleased with the buttons that they invited Jack to do part of the 'morning announcements' this morning to tell the whole school about the buttons. A perfect lesson in marketing.
The tax man effeth off: Had our appointment with the
best. accountant. ever. yesterday and despite paying in no money, we're getting a refund.
30 degrees of separation: 70 degrees today, 40 degrees tomorrow. Why? Why oh why oh why?
One foot after the other:
Keith and
I now both have pedometers. Let ...
April 1, 2007
Jack has the best intentions, but still has the planning skills of a small boy, so if you have a moment in your day to stop by the car wash he organized, we would all appreciate it. The kids at Slauson Middle School are raising money to purchase a
Play Pump for a village in South Africa and they're out there trying to collect some donations for the effort. They're washing cars, and we've got some cool buttons coming, too. Even if you don't need the car washed, stop by, say hello and support a good cause. They really are trying hard. We'll be out here today (Sunday, April 1) until 4 or ...
March 25, 2007
I've avoided the
Film Festival this year. I've gone faithfully for the last several years running, and frankly, I just don't think I can take it this year. I've lost my enthusiasm for
the genre - yes, genre - experimental is not an adjective and has nothing to do with the concept of using new techniques when you're using the word in conjunction with the word film; it's a genre descriptor like Modern Art (which has a specific meaning: art created in the period from 1890-1970 or so). So I've restricted myself to snarking from the sidelines this year. I figure, if they can put up the films that look exactly the same every ...
March 21, 2007
In some real cities, local art galleries coordinate their show openings so that you can go downtown and hit a few openings in one evening, perhaps stopping along the way or before or after to have a bite or a drink. It's quite civilized, and a nice evening out.
Why don't the galleries in Ann Arbor do this?
The Gallery Project has an opening March 30. The Krappy Kamera kids have an
opening March 23 at Gallery 4.
The Art Center has an opening March 30.
Washington Street is in the middle of an exhibition. I can't find an upcoming schedule for WORK. But it would be so cool if they could get together ...
February 19, 2007
Do you feel in the dark when they announce the Oscar winners for short films? Do you wish that Hollywood would show some lovin' to the Flyover Zone once in a while? Well, here it is: the
Michigan is showing all the Oscar-nominated shorts on Saturday, February 24 starting at 1:30. The first program will be the live shorts, the second will be the animated shorts. If you come for the live shorts, you can stay to see the animated shorts for free.
And if you're really, really into the Oscars, there's still time to get tickets for
Oscar Night America on Sunday. It's a charity benefit and they are pulling out all ...
