The "Other Hollywood" ha!

Taken from the remake of "Red Dawn" shot and produced in Detroit

Right around the corner from Karmanos "on location"

As you may have noticed, I'm gradually doing a Motown theme with my music player in the spirit of spending a lot of time in the D lately (from the suburbs). I think a lot of these tunes probably still ring true today for many who are struggling in the city...

So I mentioned they're shooting the new Red Dawn movie downtown and sure enough there it was right around the corner from the hospital after I left my last infusion! They had Woodward ave. blocked off and there were quite a few spectators and police. I can't figure out how the city is making revenue from this though and probably need to do some research. In any event, it's pretty exciting for an industrial town like Detroit to have stuff like this going on and if nothing else infuses some energy and vitality downtown and the surrounding areas... I was surprised to find out how many movies have been shot here the last couple of years (in Michigan) when I did a Google search... Here's the list since 2007;

2007
•The Dread – Safe Harbor Productions
•Life Goes On – Orlando Entertainment
•Transformers – Dreamworks
2008
•Gran Torino – Warner Brothers
•Jumper – 20th Century Fox
•Prince of Motor City – ABC Television/Disney
•Semi Pro – New Line Cinema
2009
•All’s Faire in Love – Patriot Pictures
•America – Sony Pictures Studios
•Amsteroid – Odd Angle Entertainment
•Butterfly Effect: Revelation – After Dark Films
•Cherry
•Deadheads – FroBro Films
•Demoted – Parallel Media
•Gifted Hands – Turner Network Television
•Horse Crazy 2
•Hung – HBO
•Intent – New Castle Entertainment
•The Job – Kiki Goshay Productions
•Miss January – Gilbert Films
•Prayers for Bobby – Lifetime
•Red and Blue Marbles – Don’t Tread on Red
•The Steam Experiment – Cinepro Pictures
•Street Boss – Bierlein Entertainment
•Tug – TicTock Studios
•Virgin on Bourbon Street – Infra-Red Pictures
•Whip It – Babe Ruthless Productions
•Youth In Revolt – Dimension Films
2010
•High School – Parallel Media
•Offspring – Moderncine

It was funny (at the time) yesterday as my buddies and I were walking back to the car from the Lions game (Ford Field) and they were shooting a small isolated scene from the movie in the street. My friend Mike had been a little "overserved" at the game and proceeded to jokingly yell over to the scene "I need more emotion from you!!". He totally ruined the shot and you could see the director was really pissed and all the actors had a disgusted look on their face. We of course were cracking up and as I was walking by I condescendingly said "welcome to the D" (not sure why, that was pretty crappy...). I think we were taking out our frustrations on these innocent bystanders after another depressing Lions loss. I feel bad (more like a jackass) as we probably just contributed to the bad rep Detroit has, ugh...

So I mentioned the leaves are turning here and except for the rain and colder temperatures, it's really pretty (can I use that word and still sound masculine?! ha). Anyway, here's some shots I just took after a bike ride at Stoney Creek:





I took Chili to the park too and she was enjoying the scenery! Thought it was cool how I showed up in the reflection in the window and sitting here laughing at the expression on her face! ;)



So tonight I'm going to start packing for my trip :) Hoping that I feel good while away so I can take full advantage of this adventure! Looking forward to writing about the L.A.Hawaii experience...

Cheers!