Check out the old home of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick

[VIDEO] Well another take on the sentencing on Kwame Kilpatrick the former Mayor of Detroit. Curbed Detroit shared this video of Mayor Kilpatrick's old house and aside from the fact that it had been broken into and they showed the screen door no longer had it's knobs it appeared to be a very nice home. He probably moved out not long before he became Mayor since well Detroit has a Mayoral residence.

I recall that Kilpatrick had already been to jail pleading to guilty to charges that caused him to resign from his office in 2008. More recently he has been sentenced to 28 years in prison on various charges of corruption. That's much more than our very own Rod Blagojevich we thought he got it stiff! OUCH!

Sometimes when I get to thinking...

At work one day I picked up a business card and flyer for a cinematographer. The flyer was for a project that this individual had done for a film festival. Then it got me thinking.

I often note the works that were produced and exhibited online from either Brain Terminal or Protest Warrior that partially inspired this blog. There was a time that I wanted to match some of the work they did although what could be done differently by me than they did.

There are always projects that are worth doing if you require the services of a cinematographer. There is always something at least worth making a documentary about. There's always something out there you want the general public to know about.

And let me add, the many videobloggers I followed over the years. It seemed for the most part that activity has died down, but what they did to me was very ground breaking. Many of them really just wanted to show us the world as they see it. It something I'm interested in and still do it in the form of photography or even on social media.

Still when I saw the card for the cinematographer, for second my thought became what could be the use of such a skilled person. What project could be created that would justify having him work on my project?

Recently I talked with a friend having shared with him some posts from my other blog - The Sixth Ward. He had a much larger vision for what I'm doing there than I really did. He thought about flyers, t-shirts, he thought of ways to make money while pursuing a story, and much more.

Then in thinking of this, I recognize that sometimes there are moments like the one I described in the first paragraph of this post is the kind of out of the box thinking that necessary. It just lets me know that there are always projects that needs to be done and hopefully the world can only learn about something I'm passionate about!

Should I get another iPhone?

[VIDEO] By the time I had bought my current iPhone it wasn't long until it was time for the iPhone 5. My feelings on that device is that I wish it was designed like the iPhone 4 & 4S and it appears the new iPhone 5S takes its cue from the 5.

For now it appears this is the design I will see for the foreseeable future. I could always wait for the iPhone 6 and hope Apple provides a better design.

On the other hand I'm all about utility as it's as much what the device can do and not all how it looks. Lots of social networking and picture taking in addition to the basic function of making phone calls. While they talk more about the processor hopefully it makes the phone function better. Although it's a great idea to use a fingerprint scanner to ensure security for the device.

Other than that should I keep my current iPhone and wait for the iPhone 6?

In the mood for "The Right Stuff"

[VIDEO] When I was in high school (GO FALCONS) I had designs on being an astronaut and unfortunately that was one path never followed. Basically my vision was to go on a real live "Star Trek" thanks to the fact that I was a fan of that franchise and other series and movies that involved space exploration.

There was a documentary mini-series that aired on TBS years ago called Moonshot that chronicled the early days of the space program and through the Apollo years. Then at theaters was Apollo 13 which is a real life story of a "moonshoot" that didn't quite land on the moon due to a mechanical failure.

Then in my junior year of high school I did a research paper on the lead-up to Apollo 11. I have to say, at one point in my paper was a paragraph that was a full page long. What was that about? LOL!

Anyway, during this time I discovered this movie called The Right Stuff that also chronicles the early days of the space program and somehow fits in the role of aerospace pioneering by one Chuck Yeager. Yeager was the first man to break the sound barrier in the late 1940s.

So I'm a huge fan of movie soundtracks and therefore want to share some music from The Right Stuff's soundtrack. It's very heroic although in this YouTube vid above it turned heavily 1980s near the end. This movie definitely was an homage to a group of men called the Mercury 7 who were the first Americans trained for spaceflight.

Now I need to find this film!

Curbed Chicago: How and Why Chicagoans Decided Our Flag Kicks Ass

Via Annalee flickr

The municipal flag of Chicago is an enduring symbol. The Mayor wears a lapel pin version of it and in addition many local websites and local t-shirt makers uses elements of this flag in their designs. For example consider the header for my other blog, The Sixth Ward. I would dare say no other US city comes close to Chicago although some have even more simpler design elements. Recently Curbed Chicago addresses why Chicago's flag is so popular.

A catchy political slogan???

What you see @ http://www.michaelscottcarter.com/

If I recall correctly when I was in elementary school me and a group of friends at the time started a clique that was named for the Nickelodeon Network. And our "leader" was also named Mike, but somehow we created a slogan for him "I like Mike". Not sure who created it, but it was catchy.

Not sure how it came about, but it almost certainly matches another famous slogan - "I like Ike!" - created in time for a past US Presidential campaign. It's possible that this was an inspiration for that back then or even now.

Truth be told, I wonder if the Mike of "I like Mike" - in this case Michael Scott Carter - is the same as the one that I knew. Haven't seen or spoken to him in years, but it would be cool to know that I once went to school with someone who is making moves on the state level here in Illinois.

Alas, Mike got my attention today finding a statement of his on the Capitol Fax this morning. An e-mail he sent to supporters noted that Illinois has 110 counties as opposed to the 102 it actually does have. Rich Miller quipped.

I wasn’t aware that Illinois had annexed southern Wisconsin. The “Illinois Dells” somehow just doesn’t have the same resonance, but I suppose I could get used to it.

Heh, and the comments weren't very kind to Mr. Carter either. They roasted him for that gaffe in his e-mail and then noted that they don't trust a man with three first names.

Well I'm trying not to go full on negative here. He would definitely be a different face to the 2014 race as it's noted that he's reportedy a Black Conservative Republican running for state treasurer. Also he's said to have worked with the Chicago Urban League. He's ready for the attack of the "liberal attack machine" in this race.

As for the screenshot up top, it would be great if it went viral and it just had to be preserved for posterity. Who knows how far this gent will go in politics?

VIDEO: Watch This Dilapidated House Transform Into a Theater

[VIDEO] Found this via the Curbed National website. This is very cool, perhaps this could be used on various blighted and foreclosed properties in any city that likely would be torn down anyway. Hopefully such a structure could be moved anywhere for exactly the purpose of an open air theater.