flippy floppy fuzzy friday fragments flow fast

I wonder if Mrs. 4444 favors the “f” sound in words over other sounds. As bloggers weave a wide wonderful wacky world on the web I find my ears listening for a wobbling “w”. Elmer’s wacky wabbit expressions wrecked my wrain. I had more fun with Donald Duck sounds but those have the flying spit problem.  I like to keep a clean screen.

Even though blogs can offer sounds, most focus on words so on with the words and the fragments they make.

Oh it’s a slippery salsa slope I find myself on. It’s not just for tacos anymore. Hot salsa on Mother’s Day leftover breakfast casserole makes a Monday morning tasty. This could be the start of a salsa habit.

%%==creme tangerine==%%

Rubber cement (invented in Chicago) produces a strong, yet flexible bond. Relationships that stick like rubber cement are not easy to achieve.

%%==cool cherry creme==%%

So often we think of ideas to say after slamming down the telemarketer call. One time I started talking to the young lady on the other end and asked her why she want to work in a job that annoyed people. I suggested that she change jobs. It was a fun talk.

My brother did one better. Years ago ( prebirth for some of you) when aluminum siding was growing in popularity he had a very persistent sales call. “Ok fine if you insist come on out to the house.” So the sales guy drove out my brother's house (back then its location was more rural) . The salesman was shocked when he stepped out his car. "You have a brick house!" "Yes, I would have told you that but you didn't let me explain why I was not interested." my brother smirked.

%%==nice apple tart==%%

“It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses.” Remember the movie that line comes from?

%%==ginger sling with a pineapple heart==%%

Today’s fragment separators have been brought to you by the Beatles’ Savoy Truffle. The other night I was youtube surfing old Beatles songs. I posted/shared one to FB adding these words to my post (guess the song):

All the Facebook people
Where do they all come from?
All the Facebook people
Where do they all belong?

Warning: the following youtube clip may ruin your diet plan!

family dancing beer and transformers

Sunday was a full and fun day.

After a great start with homemade buttermilk pancakes that I was allowed to put homemade blueberry sauce on (reminder to self - post about blueberry sauce) we went to a Broadway-in-Chicago musical.

Maybe you've heard of it?  It's about this British kid that wants to dance the ballet.  Great dancing, singing and acting.  But I have not heard "piss-off" that much since the time in a UK pub and the footballers stormed in.  Oh, the name of the musical - Billy Elliot.

Not far from the theater district, the Chicago streets were a total mess.

  

It looked worst than the winter potholes that have been known to swallow a car.

Would you be interesting in a slightly used SUV?

Hollywood has descended on Chicago.  The movie Transformers 3 is being filmed in Chicago this summer.  A week or so back, they filmed base jumpers (crazies if you ask me) jumping off the top of that big shiny Trump tower seen here:

I can remember when transformer meant an electrical device to transform voltages in a circuit.  

We finished the day off with a great meal and beers at the Hopleaf tavern on Clark St.  They are known for their great beer selection.  Also the mussels for two are excellent.

Having a few beers and thinking about a major Hollywood movie being in town, I thought I should change into character with some shades.

Would you be interested in autograph prints of this photo?

I didn't think so.

another circus    

Jake and Elwood

My wife and I took a short trip this past week.

These guys were waiting for us at the airport.

 

Nice guys - they even got up and did some singing and dancing.

Do you know Jake and Elwood's last name?  They were brothers you know.  

Hopefully, I will get some pics posted soon from our short trip.

Johnny's blazing guns

Just got back from seeing Public Enemies. Great movie.

As you might suspect this gangster movie has some spectacular shootouts as it describes the last couple of years of John Dillinger. Since I read about the filming last year I've been interested in the movie.

Toward the beginning of the movie there's a cameo that surprised me. Diana Krall sings a jazz song in a nightclub scene. She's a great jazz singer who knows what she's doing.

Before seeing it, I had read about this Wisconsin lodge location used in the movie that is still open to the public. The Little Bohemia web site has a good story about the FBI-Dillinger shoot-out which is reenacted in the movie.

The movie changed the story slightly from what is described on their web site. The owners called the FBI (probably for the reward) but the movie doesn't show it that way.

The Wisconsin lodge Little Bohemia.

The scene of Dillinger back in Indiana custody is recreated accurately. The charm of Dillinger comes out in this picture below from a FBI web page on Dillinger and in the related movie scene.

After watching this scene and then seeing the real picture, I think the real Dillinger looks like an actor.



FBI web page explaining the above picture

My earlier post on the filming of Public Enemies.
---update---
For a movie of this type which is based on real events, I prefer to know as much as possible before seeing the movie. I know some don't want to know anything about a movie beforehand. What's your opinion of this?
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big screen chicago

I've written about my interest in Chicago movie making before. The summer 2008 Batman movie was full of Chicago street scenes. Remember the truck flipping end over end. That was on LaSalle St.




Now the hype is building for the July 1 release of Public Enemies.

My post on it from last year has some good background links (and I just checked - they're still good).

There has been numerous other big movies made in Chicago. Home Alone, Backdraft, Blues Brothers, and the Fugitive to name a few. Here's a long list.

Do you agree it makes a movie more interesting when you recognize some of the locations?

In addition to the promotional value given to a location, the filming brings in local revenue.

The Chicago Tribune reports that Public Enemies beat The Dark Knight on the local revenue generated. "Public Enemies," generated $46.7 million in revenue for Illinois, compared with $40 million for "The Dark Knight." That's a good chunk of change!

Deals are negotiated on a case-by-case basis for the use of restaurants or bars. The money can be thousands of dollars a day of shooting.

BTW it does seem that Chicago filmed movies tend to be crime related. It's a big sometimes nasty city but it's not as crime ridden as the movies would make you believe.

I've been lucky to visit some sights that have been movie locations. Two of the most interesting ones (other than Chicago) I visited were Savannah GA. and Squam Lakes NH. Do you know the movies for those two places?



Being an extra in movie would be a thrill. I have a brother-in-law that was in American Pie (filmed in CA).

some movie time and a restaurant

This has happened before - I start with a posting idea and as I dig around for more info it gets twisted around into something else.

Starting with a short article in the Chicago Tribune about "Mr. Bean" (the above clip) and this movie industry group called NATO, I ended up finding out about Digital Cinema and the movie connection of a Chicago restaurant that has great ribs.

Ok, lets work backwards - great ribs (based on my wife's and many other's opinion - I'm not a big ribs guy) can be found at "Twin Anchors".



So this Twin Anchors place is well connected to the movie industry and Frank Sinatra too. Frank Sinatra eat here often when he was in Chicago. The big movie connection is the filming of "Return to Me" at the restaurant. They spent five weeks filming there.

More recently a scene from "The Dark Knight" was filmed there. You might remember a post or two on that movie here in this blog. here

On to NATO - this one stands for National Association of Theatre Owners. Their site is filled with boxoffice related numbers and Mr. Bean. BTW - the movies and the NATO group had a record year in 2008 unlike the car industry and most everyone else.

Also on the NATO web site is info on Digital Cinema which will change movie going big time. In so many words - new technology and no reels of film. Also this technology makes 3D viewing better.

Here's some links
NATO
Digital Cinema
Twin Anchors

Chicagoans should see Batman

Since this is a blockbuster/record breaker you probably already have seen it. I went yesterday (a Tuesday) and didn't have any problem with crowds but for a early evening Tuesday showing it was still surprisingly full.

If you get the Chicago Tribune you'll know the movie was filmed in Chicago and also the many scene locations.


I know this silly blog is not a source for movie reviews and really this movie has been reviewed and talked about at length. My point is this movie is extra fun for those that know the Chicago locations used in the movie.


My favorite both from the movie and just for getting around the loop is lower Wacker drive. It's always fun driving down there.

more on filming in Chicago

Today's Chicago Tribune has more on the filming of "Public Enemies." Also, their web site has interesting pictures of the set. (see the other links in my previous post)

gangster history

I knew Dillinger was killed outside a movie theater in Chicago, but until I noticed a few pictures of the filming of "Public Enemies" in Chicago, I didn't know the theater was on Lincoln Ave. I also learned from the FBI web page that the last movie that gangster watched was a gangster movie.

There's a good description of the events on the FBI site. Here's the summary:

Agents fired. Dillinger fell, mumbled a few words, and died.

So they transformed the area around the Biograph Theater on Lincoln back to the 1930's. Here's a blogger's page with a short video about making the set.

Some pictures on flickr

Here's a good set of pictures too - Travels with Sandy blog