Worthy Charitable Causes...

Let's start with some shameless self-promotion. If you haven't checked out my latest 'zine, please do so at:

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Thanks and now for the show...

Nick had a charity fundraiser for his film about Couch surfing last Tuesday. So, all the Michigan Exiles came out to support him and the good cause...


...and what good cause is complete without strippers oil wrestling. Please check out Nick's upcoming adventure at:

Couch Surfing


USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!


And USA! beats skinny girl.


This pool has something like 40 bottles of baby oil and one bottle of vegetable oil, which ended up all over the place. It splashed as the girls wrestled and all over the floor as they walked around between matches. I felt bad for the busboy who had to mop the whole night at Sluggers (just south of Addison on Clark).


You can see how much oil is in here if you look at their feet...


The last time I had a picture of an inflatable pool like this I have a picture of Nick in short shorts. Curious...


When will this become an official 501 (c) 3 nonprofit that I can make tax deductible donations to?


Saturday night, riding bikes to the Tip Top on our way to a party.


Karli, Chris, and Nick after our very brief stop at the party. Very brief...


Chris, Matt, and Nick closing out the night on the Murder House porch.


Folk & Roots Festival in Lincoln Square.


I got a Cajun Hot Dog for $3 here. It was delicious.


Forget the "Danger Zone" baby, we're going to the Drop Zone! But seriously, what a lovely name for a port-o-john...


The "Rock and Roll" festival just north of Wrigleyville. Mostly cover bands, but well done and great sound. And an inflatable gorilla.


The "L" passing over one of the stages.


The "sexy nurse" band.

Megan and I at the Harry Potter movie at Navy Pier. It was in IMAX 3-D. I'm not a huge Harry Potter fan, but it was a decent movie. Then again, anything in IMAX 3-D is a good movie. I'd watch Xanadu in IMAX 3-D and love it...

Again, my 'zine, A New Tomorrow, can be viewed at:

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Add my 'zine as a friend at:

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WANTED:

Here's the banner I designed for AIA Chicago (American Institute of Architects). It's right in downtown Chicago on Ohio between State and Dearborn.

While at the AIA party last Thursday, they were filming Wanted starring Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie. There was this bread truck and a SUV with a camera mounted on it chasing it. There was also a helicopter flying really low above the river.


You can't see in on this real well because of the bluriness, but Angelina's stunt double is strapped onto the windshield of this Dodge Viper driving about 70mph down Wacker Drive shooting guns toward the air. It was amazing!


At work, we hosted Great Chicago Places and Spaces (GCPS) this weekend. We offered hundreds of tours for free of buildings, downtown, and behind the scenes of a lot of Chicago's main attractions. The line to my office was two blocks long at 7:30am going from Michigan and Jackson to Adams and Wabash. The first guy got in line about 3am.


And here's more of them...


And they keep on going...


And, this is what they came for: Chicago's unique architecture.


This about sums up Humboldt Park.


A man riding down North Ave. at 6am on Sunday in a wheelchair obeying most traffic laws. I love this town!

Today, I plan to do nothing because I did too much this weekend.

xoxo,

Mike

Chicago Is the Center of the Universe.

Hey Everyone, Summer arrived in March and decided to leave in early April. But, I guess it allowed spring to visit for the rest of the month. Man, is it awesome outside. Everything is green and sunny and awesome. I can't wait for all the events Chicago is going to have this summer. There's no better place to live in the summer than Chicago!

CHICAGO WINS! Well, at least we slaughtered LA is getting the right to bid for the 2016 Olympics in 2016. To me, this really is a moral victory. This was a win by a "real" city over a "fake" city. LA is fake to its core. No one is really from there. Hollywood is a industry of illusions. Celebrity is their main industry. It's not a city, but hundreds of square miles of suburban fantasy, sprawl, and automotive hell. On the other hand, we've got Chicago. There are true Chicagoans and transplants, like myself. We are an industrial, commercial, financial, and cultural powerhouse. Chicago is the greatest city in North America and one of the greatest in the world. YEAH!

Some political art in Wicker Park.

 One of the saddest events to happen in my life recently was discovering the Village Theater is closed. Where else can I see first run movies for $5. I can't do that in Muskegon. Now, I can't do that even in Chicago. Another sad event was visiting the Mike's Inn MySpace page. I remember actually wanting to go to that bar. Now, it looks like all the other douchebag bars. My heart is broken...




Symphony at the Chicago Cultural Center.  Exhibit of mentally disabled people at the Chicago Cultural Center. Ruby Bradford is my new favorite artist. I'm not kidding. This is awesome and says so much more about our society than most of the blowhards in the art community.
My favorite person in here is Judge Hatchett. Nice!  I forgot who did this, but this is really good too. Actually, this whole show was really great and I wish my batteries weren't almost dead on my camera. This work is about the terror after Hurricane Katrina outside the Superdome.


Here we are at Federal Plaza planting. There's also a group of anti-war tax protesters. About three of them. Can you find them? This was just a couple hours ago and another example of why Chicago is better than your city...

Love and miss you all. Mike

PS - Saw Grindhouse and it was pretty good. Robert Rodriguez is a far superior movie maker than Quentin Tarantino (And yes, I do know Rodriguez was the writer and director of the Spy Kids trilogy). Here's why, Rodriguez knows how to tell a story, be humorous, innovative, and allows the movie to be entertaining. Tarantino is self-absorbed, references and copies films without adding his own flare, and largely full of shit. I imagine when directing and watching his films, he probably is jerking off to how awesome he is the whole time. And that is why his half of Grindhouse was pretty boring and uninteresting.

PSS - Grindhouse may be re-released fairly soon as two separate movies because the 3+ is a bit difficult to take. Mostly because Deathproof is so disappointing with such a great premise...

At the Press As We Speak...

Hey everyone,

I have a 'zine at the printshop right now. I'm suppose to pick it up around noon and then staple and distribute it this weekend. That's what you can expect to see next...

Stephano's "heart-shaped pizza for any special occassion at no extra cost!"

Looking at Noah's face, the heart-shaped pizza was the special occassion. Well, that and Frances moving to Chicago!

USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

Stella's Bar. This place is awesome. Stella makes drinks as stiff as Mike's Inn, but with good liquor. Best $4 I've spent in a while.

Vincent set up a softball game and look who showed up! His name is Matt, he drives a motorcycle with a sidecar, and that's all I need to know he's good people.

Humboldt Park is really nice. No wonder all the homeless guys camp there.

Hot softball action on a small kickball field.

Laura so killed Vincent's pitch.

One man's garbage is another man's treasure.

This is actually an advertisement for CSI: Charlie Chaplin...

Montrose Harbor

Went to Montrose Park to see the movie Airplane!

"Instead of a drive-in, this is a walk-in." Do you know what? Chicago's awesome.

That's it from down here. Hope all's going well back in Michigan (or wherever you people moved to) and see you Chicagoans soon.

xoXOXOXxoxoXo

Mike

John Tesh Was An Alien?

The cake says it all...

The birthday went well. I think Hasan really liked it. He was so thankful and I think almost cried at one point. That kid will never want to leave Muskegon after this.

After the Glenside Pub, we headed to the drive-in to see The 40-Year Old Virgin and Wedding Crashers. Hilarious sexual comedies. I thought it was funny that Steve Carrell (sp?) was picked on for riding his bike so much since that is how I get around town. Maybe he'd have better luck if he had a sweet bike like my 1979 Schwinn Cruiser instead of the Pee-Wee Herman bike.

Oh yeah, I have a pen pal now. My student from Moon School sent me another letter. It's pretty funny. I like the drawings illustrating the letter.

I got a call from the American Red Cross for a job interview. So, Mr. Jacob Dykema, I need to know the name of your mom's neighbor who applied pressure for me. Candy or something? It's a pretty cool job. Basically, I would travel around the world for three week deployments helping people in disasters. I would be awesome at that. With job interviews, it's either feast or famine. Seems to be feast right now.

Anyway, not too much going on. Andrea and I are going to her grandparent's house for dinner. Maybe he will make me mix tapes after that. I don't know what we are doing afterwards. All I know is I can have too rough of a night because I have to head to Chicago tomorrow.