Hello Friend, It's Been Too Long

My time on the Island has come to a close. By Sunday, I'll be on the road back to Macomb for a few days before heading back up the MSU and moving into my own place. It's a little weird packing things up around here, because honestly, the time has just flown by. But at the same time, I'm more than ready to get off this Island and head back to civilization.

If you scroll down to the left of the screen, you'll see a list of goals I established for myself while here on the Island. The only one I really didn't accomplish was seeing a ghost. I checked out some "haunted" places up here but unfortunately didn't have any luck with seeing or capturing anything on tape.

This last week up here might have been my favorite. I had a lot of fun with Sarah and the Harbison family during their stop on Mackinac and I'm looking forward to having more fun this weekend when my mom and dad come up Saturday to help me move out. My parents, of course, will be driving up the precious cargo of Tony (he can't get enough of this place) and Sarah Harla (two visiting Sarah's in one week! Oh my!) It should be fun.

After that, I'm home free. I'll be back in Macomb Sunday. Hope to hear from all of you soon!

I don't mind if you don't mind

Nine days left on the Island. Five working days left. I've had a great experience this summer, but I'm ready for it all to be over with. I'm also very proud of what I've done here. Although there are certainly things I don't agree with about the paper (as there is anywhere, really), it's been a great learning experience. I'm proud of the fact that Monday through Friday I was never late past the 8 a.m. start time, whether I was hungover like a monkey at his bar mitzvah party, or sober as a fox. I've also done a lot of grunt work and have been in (for at least a little while) every Saturday of the summer. Sure, you're more judged on what you produce at a job, but it's also the little things like being on time and getting your hands dirty that really spell out character and dedication, and those things can go a long way anywhere. Granted, I still have five more working days to totally eat those words I just typed.

One of the things that has really surprised me about the Island is the politicking that goes on in certain circles. It seems that City Council and the Mayor dare not speak a bad word in the public about the place. It seems that a lot of people are afraid to speak down on the Island. Sure, the place has its issues and problems, but in the public eye, listening to a lot of people here, you would think the Island is perfect. The inner cliques remind a little bit of one of my favorite movies of last year, Hot Fuzz. For those of you haven't seen the British action-comedy, it's about a small-town London village with a cult group of superior citizens who kill anybody looking to bring bad publicity to the place, covering it up as an accident. Then comes hard-nosed cop Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) who proceeds to beat the crap out of the cult of killers. Hilarious movie and it reminds me somewhat of Mackinac, minus the killing and badass cop. Or was that carriage accident last week planned?? Dun, dun, dun...

Anyways, my remaining days here will be characterized by visitors and lots of partying. Below are a few video segments put together from last weekend when Brad and Tone visited:

An official investigation of the East Lansing Paranormal Society (ELPS):


Brad vs. Horse

The times they are a changin'

It's August 3rd. I have 16 days left working on the Island, and I'm offiicially ready for it to end. I'm not ready yet to leave the Island, but I'm ready to be done working on the Island. I hope that makes sense. I've literally had no down time this summer. As soon as finals week was over, I moved up here and started working. I'll be leaving the 19th back for home and will have to turn around 3 days later and head back up to MSU. Busy, busy, busy. That's kind of why I wish I could just stop right now and lay around and be lazy on the Island for the remainder of the time.

The next 16 days should fly by, however. They'll be characterized by a steady string of visitors, starting tomorrow with Brad and Tone. After the 19th, I look forward to a world where I can sample the Baconator at Wendy's, buy CDs again from a Best Buy, not pay over 3 bucks for milk, and relax and have a nice BBQ with my great friends to cap off another summer of our lives.

My time is limited here on Mackinac, and in a way I'm grateful for that. I'll soon begin my final semester of college. It's been an interesting and fun-filled journey this far, but in the words of Bob Dylan, "the times they are a changin'."

Hail to the king, baby

As many of you already know, I pretty much worship the ground that the notorious B-Screen actor Bruce Campbell walks on. Haven't heard of Bruce Campbell? Not a big surprise. The Birmingham, MI native is probably best known for appearing in the low-budget cult classic Evil Dead horror trilogy, which were directed by childhood buddy and Michigan State alumni Sam Raimi (Spider-Man, The Quick and the Dead). The first Evil Dead movie actually premiered in Wells Hall at MSU to see how appealing it would be to people. People ate it up. Stephen King even wound up endorsing it. A sequel, Evil Dead 2, was made although it was basically just a repeat of the first Evil Dead with a bigger budget and slightly different plot. Finally, Army of Darkness was made and the horror-comedy nature of the film is still legendary to this day. Hard to believe Bruce Campbell accomplished all of that with just a semesters worth of school at Western Michigan under his belt.

My first memories of Bruce Campbell came 14 years ago when The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. debuted on the Fox network. It starred Bruce as the lead character, a Harvard-educated lawyer turned bounty hunter after the death of his father. It was set in the 1890s and was too soon for its time. It starred a decent cast, had some good guest stars (Terry Bradshaw, Debra Jo Rupp) and was ridiculously funny. It only would up lasting 2 seasons. I'm convinced if it debuted today, instead of in 1993, people would just eat it up.

Bruce Campbell has also played small cameo roles in each Spider-Man movie. He was the wrestling ring announcer in the first, the obnoxious usher in the second, and a goofy French waiter in what was one of the few good parts of Spidey 3. He's made his living off B-Screen Movies and sharp cameos and is the author of 3 books, one fittingly titled "If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-Screen Actor." Today, he lives on in the USA action-comedy Burn Notice and has several projects in the works.

Now my friends, with the help of Youtube.com, let's take a look into Bruce Campbell's greatest hits....

The famous Boomstick scene from Army of Darkness:




The classic ending of sweetness from Army of Darkness:



Another classic kickass scene from Army of Darkness:




The best scene from Evil Dead 2:



A classic Western Showdown from Brisco County Jr.:



Here's Bruce joking around on the set of Spider-Man:



Finally, here's Bruce on Craig Ferguson, talking about Bubba Ho-Tep, where he plays a 68-year old version of Elvis:

One of my favorite television shows is the hit Sci-Fi program Ghost Hunters. Unfortunately, here on Mackinac, the (likely illegal) cable that's in the apartment doesn't have the Sci-Fi channel so I couldn't watch any of the new season 4 that debuted in June. Luckily my parents brought my up the Season 2 DVDs last when they came to visit on July 13. That should quench my Ghost Hunters craving for a while. For those of you unfamiliar with the show, cameras follow The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) to investigations and document some of the real life hauntings in this world. TAPS was founded by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson. They work as Roto Rooters plumbers during the day and investigate hauntings at no charge after having respective paranormal experiences that prompted them to start the organization. They still do it at no charge, but I'm sure they're helped out quite a bit with checks from the Sci-Fi channel. The thing that's best about the show is they go into place trying to disprove and debunk hauntings. They're very levelheaded and never assume a place is haunted. They set up video equipment and audio recording devices in hopes of catching indisputable evidence of a haunting. Only then will they say a place is haunted. Often times they don't catch anything. But when they do, it's absolutely amazing. The best piece of evidence I've seen them catch was a shadowy ghost that manifested out of nowhere and walked down a corridor at the Eastern State Penitentiary. It's also very cool to hear the EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) that they sometimes catch on audio. I'd recommend the show for anyone interested in the unexplained.

I've also been fortunate lately to view some of the classic crime movies that have paved the way for the stuff in the movies today. I'm talking about the "Dirty Harry" series of flicks that star a much younger Clint Eastwood as Inspector "Dirty Harry Callahan," a hard-nosed cop who doesn't take crap from anyone. They're great movies that I'd recommend to everyone.

The movies have led way to some of the best one-line catch phrases that my generation still says today:

I thought for this post I would take a break from the petty talk about Mackinac Island and enlighten you on one of my other hobbies - music. I'm a big music fan, spanning from all different genres of art. Below I've listed some of my favorite albums of all time.

The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Many Beatles fans cite 1, The White Album, or Magical Mystery Tour as their favorite disc by the foursome, but for me, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band takes the cake. Not only does it have catchy pop tracks like "With a Little Help from my Friends" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," but it shows the goofy side of the band with tracks like "When I'm 64."

Reel Big Fish: Turn the Radio Off!
The first and best major RBF disc. Turn the Radio Off! is a perfect debut for the ska-rockers, combining humour, with telling off girls, they're shyness from popularity, and their oft-favorite sung about hobby - drinking. No other RBF album has been able to touch the excellence of Turn the Radio Off!

Green Day: American Idiot
Most Green Day fans will stand by Dookie as their favorite record by the California trio, but I see otherwise. While Dookie was a very good listen about coming clean off drugs and growing up, American Idiot introduces fans to a whole new musical topic - politics. Green Day nails politically-charged songs with poppy guitar riffs and catchy vocals to bash the American government en route to an Oscar win for the trio. The highlight of the album is the seven-minute plus "Jesus of Suburbia."

Bruce Springsteen: Born in the U.S.A.
Many Springsteen fans seem to favor Born to Run as their favorite disc with The Boss and the E Street Band, but Born in the U.S.A. has a little of everything. Catchy bob-your-head-along songs like "No Surrender," and "I'm Going Down," are mixed with somber tracks like "Downbound Train," and the often misinterpreted "Born in the U.S.A." to make the disc a classic.

Weezer: Pinkerton
The best and most criticized album by the nerdy foursome takes the listener on a musical journey through the experience head singer Rivers Cuomo had with a Japanese Girl, highlighted beautifully by the song "Across the Sea." Pinkerton is full of passion, sympathy, and an overall understanding and morale of the story, which is lacked in the very good Blue Album, and far from anything that Weezer's released since.

Jimmy Eat World: Clarity
The often overlooked album from Jimmy Eat World that came years before their pop-rock mainstream Bleed American success. Clarity starts the listener out slow with "Table for Glasses," then tackles subjects from love to lust before rocking out with the tracks "Blister," and "Clarity." Songs are written and sung with a never before seen passion from lead singer Jimmy Atkins, making this disc a must have for any JEW fan.



Honorable mentions:
Midtown - Save the World, Lose the Girl: Other Midtown records can't even touch the punk-rock excellence of this disc.

Yellowcard - One for the Kids: Fantastic record introducing the violin as a main instrument combined with raw catchy lyrics. Sadly, the group has weeded out the violin more and more since they're mainstream release of Ocean Avenue.

Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends: Classic punk rock sound with dual vocalists that has again been transformed due to mainstream popularity.

Thursday - Full Collapse: Hard-rocking screamo music with a purpose behind each song.

There's been a lot going on here on Mackinac since I last updated. I'll spare you some of the details because I don't really feel like talking about most of them, but I did spend the last weekend with my family (minus Cody) who trekked up to the Straits for a visit. I enjoyed free meals all weekend, ran up some nice bar tabs with the parents, and overall enjoyed a relaxing weekend. They were also able to bring me up tons of the movies they burned for me since I've been up here and I've been trying to catch up a little on some of them.

They were also telling me how much they enjoyed Fish vs. Wild, which makes that just about everyone I've talked to. For another project, I've been pondering some other ideas. As some of you know, I purchased a $94 Batman suit a few years ago, which I wear on Halloween and around randomly. I think it would be hilarious to do a Batman spoof on the Island. It would just be funny seeing the looks on people's faces as I rode down Main Street on my bike. The possibilities are just endless. I would love to do a scripted scene with the Island police chief or one of the officers. It could be just like in Batman Begins. The possible conversation:

Batman: Chief.
Chief: We still haven't rounded up half of the underage drinkers. And that palate of golden fudge is still missing.
Batman: We'll get it done.
Chief: And we have a new criminal in town. He got busted for sneaking into the Grand Hotel pool after hours and stealing brochures from the Tourism Bureau.
Batman: I'll look into it. (Turns away and heads for his bike)
Chief: I never said thank you.
Batman: (Slowly turns back around to face Chief) And you'll never have to. (Mounts bike and rides away)