On Sunday evening a fellow Metroblogger and I were driving around downtown when we were none too pleased to be stuck in Lions aftermath traffic. As we were stuck on Cass a couple blocks south of 75, we witnessed five white males – beers in hand – who appeared to have just wandered out of the Lions game rip down a construction barrier and enter a development site. I just hope they didn’t damage anything. Being appalled we pleaded with them to no avail and resorted to calling the police. Of course, it seems unlikely that the police could have gotten to the site at all on time, but at least it is on record. We are in the process of identifying and contacting the developers. It makes me ill to think that investors who take a chance on the city may never again because five guys thought trespassing on private property was the perfect cap to a game.

most of you have probably seen that lame t-shirt around town, i’m sure…but i really did it,and i live here! now, here’s my story: i work a lot of hours, usually between sixty five and seventy five hours each week. i have never called in sick and i haven’t taken any non-work related trips in well over a decade but i decided that enough was enough and recently took a long weekend off. since it’s been so long since i’ve been out around town during business hours i took my vacation and didn’t leave the area.
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I have been fortunate to have traveled fairly extensively across the U.S. in the last couple of years. One feature of big cities across this country that has intrigued me is the presence of psychics advertising the ancient arts of palmistry and tarot in gaudy neon. It is a sight that is rare in Detroit. The only one that I have come across is in Greektown right under the Golden Fleece on Monroe. For my sister’s birthday I took her out to have our tarot cards read. The tarot card reader claimed that her gift was God given and passed down through the generations in her family. I am a skeptic by nature, but the reading was entertaining and I will probably go back in a year’s time for the fun of it. I’ll let you know in 3-4 years if her predictions were true.

Today is the final day of the Detroit Film Theatre’s (DFT) Autumn programming schedule. Given the cold, drab weather outside, it’s the perfect day for some culture in the form of a film.

Director Ingmar Bergman’s-The Magic Flute is being shown at 4 and 7 today. A 1975 adaptation of Mozart’s opera, the DFT describes the movie as, “A simple, eloquent story – about a devoted young man determined to rescue the woman he loves …” Right up my alley.

Tickets are just $5.00 for DIA members, students and senior citizens, or $7.50 for non-members. Tickets may be purchased at the theatre box office, which opens an hour before showtime. Parking is available on John R, directly across from the entrance to the DFT. If you have time, get there early and take a walk through the new DIA before the show.

Sending Christmas or holiday cards to friends in Windsor? Make sure to add extra postage. It costs $.69 to send a regular-sized, one-ounce card from Detroit to Ontario (it only costs $.41 within the U.S.) I learned this the hard way and received my Windsor-bound cards back five days after mailing them.

Another one that might trip you up is the square card, which costs an extra $.17 per card. That’s an extra $17 to send 100 square cards as opposed to 100 regular-sized ones.

My advice? Skip the square cards unless you are looking for ways to throw money away.

Citing our new casinos, hotels, and renovated art museum, the New York Times’ Travel Section named Detroit as a destination for travel in 2008. The Times ranked Detroit 40 in its list of 53 great places to visit next year, which means that after folks make their visits to Laos, Lisbon, Tunisia, Mauritius, Mid-Beach Miami, South Beach Miami, Maldives, Death Valley, Courchevel, Libya, Hvar, Puerto Vallarta, Sylt, Prague, Quito, Liverpool, Munich, Iran, Tuscany, Anguilla, Bogota, Playa Blanca Panama, Alexandria, Mazatlan, St. Lucia, Oslo, Buenos Aires, Rimini Italy, Malawi, Roatan, Mozambique, Kuwait City, Verbier, Lombok, Northwest Passage, Easter Island, Virgin Gorda, Namibia, and San Francisco, we can expect swarms of tourists flying into Metro for their Detroit dream vacations.

Last Saturday, The Lager House proved that rumors of its death as a Detroit rock n’ roll mainstay have been greatly exaggerated. The Corktown dive bar’s Grand Re-Opening Celebration featured a night of music with Beggars, Murder Mystery, and with champagne courtesy of the new owners for all of those who came to christen the new Lager, which really doesn’t look very different from the old one.

Most of the changes and fixes were to the less visible parts of the building itself, particularly to the roof, which could very well have fallen in after another abusive winter, says new co-owner P.J. Ryder. Electrical upgrades were also made, along with new paint for the ceiling and walls on the bar side of the building. Thankfully, the stage side has been left as it is–stained, sticky, stickered, and thoroughly rocked from the residue of the great bands that have graced its stage.
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Outside MOCAD on Noel Night