Absolute Michigan: On Location

2010 ArtPrize photo contest

farlane — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 13:08:28 +0000

ArtPrize is holding a photo contest for photos added to the ArtPrize Flickr group. Click that link for the details and submit your photos to any or all of the following categories for a chance to win prizes!

installed art
public reactions/interaction with art
venues
artists
events (any ArtPrize related event)
voting (all forms)

Check Dustin’s photo out bigger and check out the ArtPrize 2010 slideshow on Flickr.

Much more ArtPrize on Absolute Michigan!

ArtPrize 2010 Happenings!

farlane — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 13:44:39 +0000

Absolute Michigan will be on location at ArtPrize and bringing you regular updates In addition to seeing all the art at the venues around the city, ArtPrize 2010 features numerous happenings all over the city. Before we get into that, however, here’s a great Opening Montage by filmmaker Brian Kelly that we came across this morning!

OK, hope your blood is moving now. Here’s some highlights to help you get your feet moving…

One of my absolutely favorite musicians is Michelle Shocked and she’s in Grand Rapids tonight at 8 PM. If you can get there, don’t miss at the Wealthy Theatre.

Neighborhood Parties start today. Westside is an untraditional night at the movies TONIGHT Thursday, September 23 (8 – 10:30 PM). Hillside is Friday, September 24 (5 – 7 PM) and spotlights the talent of Grand Rapids’ theatre district for a beer-tasting happy hour. Center City is Saturday, September 24 (7-10 PM) will feature the first of three concerts in the ArtPrize 2010 Concert Series. Hillside is Sunday, September 26 (2 – 4 PM) and is an all-ages and family event with a community canvas and ive folk-rock music by Chicago-based band Common Shiner. Monroe North is Monday, September 27 (8 – 10 PM) and is Game Night with artists and public squaring off in competition.

ArtPrize Concert Series The ArtPrize Concert from 7-10 PM takes place at Rosa Parks Circle (Monroe Ave and Monroe Center) and features Surfer Blood, an indie-rock band from West Palm Beach. On Saturday, October 2, pop-singer Natasha Bedingfield headlines will perform with special guests: David Archuleta and Hot Chelle Rae.

Artist Beili Liu’s “Lure/Forest” by paulh192ArtPrize Speaker Series will be held at The Hub and features 8 days with distinguished art experts, artists, designers, and more. Evening events include a cocktail hour and cash bar and daytime events have lunches available for purchase.

The Top 10 Announcement takes place at 6 PM on Thursday, September 30 at Rosa Parks Circle. Following the announcement, Grammy-nominated act Five For Fighting will perform select songs.

The ArtPrize Winners Announcement takes place Thursday, October 7 at 7 PM.

The ArtPrize Art Fair at DeVos Place will allow you to browse or buy artwork from over 50 registered ArtPrize artists. It takes place September 24-26.

Photos: ArtPrize 9 22 2010 by RichardDemingPhotography and Artist Beili Liu’s “Lure/Forest” by paulh192

TCFF Dailies for Wednesday from the Traverse City Film Festival

farlane — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:11:26 +0000

Here’s the first of the TCFF Dailies we’re producing for the Film Festival. See it out bigger on YouTube.

Free Movies Every Night at the Open Space

farlane — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:05:57 +0000

While Traverse City may not have the most creatively named waterfront park in Michigan, it is very cool to have a broad, grassy park right on Lake Michigan’s Grand Traverse Bay in downtown TC.

Every year for the Traverse City Film Festival they show free movies on the biiiig screen. Still to come: Raising Arizona, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Mary Poppins!

Photo Credit: Finding Nemo…Film Festival 2010 TC by Pamela Ann Photography

Michigan movie trivia featuring Anatomy of a Murder

farlane — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:06:55 +0000

Over on Absolute Michigan, we have a great list of Michigan movie trivia. It includes the trailer to Anatomy of a Murder.

Best. Trailer. Ever.

Greening the Traverse City Film Festival

farlane — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 13:46:24 +0000

In Traverse City Film Festival Goes Green, Jacque writes about something many of the festivals we cover grapple with, how to make their event greener. He begins:

I had an opportunity to sit down with Jessica Abfalter, 2010 TCFF Water Manager, and learned how she is helping Traverse City Film Festival reach their green goals. It was a chance meeting, in a local coffee shop, where Jessica was on the phone trying to secure compostable drinking cups for this years events (just one part of her plan). The issue was not finding the cups, but making sure that they arrive safely during one of the hottest summers that this Northern Michigan city has seen in while. The cups that the Traverse City Film Festival will be using begin to decompose, according to the suppliers website, at 110 degrees.

In an effort to put less waste in landfills, the Traverse City Film Festival will go green by ditching bottled water for filtered water with two choices for containers: Compostable cups & reusable sports bottles. The four venues for this green project include: The Traverse City State Theatre, Old Town Playhouse, City Opera House , and Lars Hockstad Auditorium.

Read on for a breakdown of the Traverse City Film Festival’s green effort! Also check out the nonprofit that will take all that recycling and keep the materials working for us, Bay Area Recycling for Charities.

Photo: Jessica Abfalter, TCFF Water Manager & Abbie Phillips, Co-Manager, show off this year’s green ideas.

Film Forum Series @ Traverse City Film Festival

farlane — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:25:36 +0000

The Traverse City Film Festival will have a new Film Forum Series in 2010. The forums are designed to provide an opportunity for movie lovers to discuss films in an informal community in the round format and takes place at Lay Park on Union Street, Wednesday, July 28 through Saturday, July 31 after specially designated noon and 3:00 p.m. films. The series is free and includes performances from live musicians following the discussions. The schedule for the series is as follows:

Wednesday, July 28
Budrus: after noon movie
12th & Delaware: after 3 pm movie

Thursday, July 29
Waiting for “Superman’”: after noon movie
Restrepo: after 3 pm movie

Friday, July 30
American Radical: after noon movie
8: The Mormon Proposition: after 3 pm movie

Saturday, July 31
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers: after noon movie
GasLand: after 3 pm movie
Strawberry and Chocolate: after 6 pm movie

Photo: Crowd at Open Space Film, Beth Price

On Location at the 2010 Traverse City Film Festival

farlane — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 13:16:39 +0000

All next week Absolute Michigan will be on location at the Traverse City Film Festival in Traverse City, Michigan. The festival takes place Tuesday, July 27 through Sunday, August 1. Check their site for tickets and also the times of free panels and free movies on the BIG screen at the Open Space

We’re a sponsor of the festival so we may have a little biased, but we have to say that this is one of the coolest weeks we get a chance to be a part of. In 2010, we’re going to be working with a great group of folks including the University of Michigan Film School to produce daily online video – stay tuned!

Here’s a great video produced by Scott Allman that will help get you in the mood.

Photo: Traverse City Film Festival by Ken Scott

That’s a Wrap: Day Three of the Comedy Festival

farlane — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:28:19 +0000

Dan Sultana from Motor City Blog made the trip up to the Traverse City Comedy Festival and got some great photos including the one above. Check out lots more in his Traverse City Comedy Arts Festival slideshow!

Festival blogger Beth Milligan has a nice wrapup of the Comedy Festival, where she notes:

When I was interviewing Jeff (Garlin) on Saturday, he dropped maybe the most exciting news about next year’s festival possible: “We’re going to start on Thursday and end on Saturday,” he announced. At the time, I didn’t actually realize this was exciting news, but by the end of yesterday, I was overjoyed at the prospect.

We’ve got all the blog posts, tweets and photos archived over at the 2010 Traverse City Comedy Festival page on Absolute Michigan. When they post some video, we’ll add that too!

Speaking of video, here’s the winner of the Comedy Shorts Competition, Wolverine’s Claws Suck by Lou & Greg (which beat out Wheelchair Werewolf). It’s rated gory for Wolverine claws and has some swearing (again, Wolverine claws):

Traverse City Comedy Arts Festival: Day Two

farlane — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 17:18:46 +0000

The second day of the Traverse City Comedy Arts Festival featured some big name comedians: John Waters, Whitney Cummings, Jeff Garlin, Mike Burbiglia, John Waters and Roseanne Barr. Check out the Traverse City Comedy Festival slideshow on Flickr to see them in action.

I got to sit in on an interview with Jeff Garlin and Whitney Cummings. When asked if there would be a year two for the Comedy Fest, Jeff said “All the shows are sold out – of course” and leaked a few details on next year’s festival including a Thursday night opening party and headliner.

Whitney noted that unlike a lot of other comedy festivals, this one seems a lot less geared to agents and their blackberries and more about comedians and comedy.