Detroit Moxie's Weekend Roundup

Whoosh! And 2010 went by like a speeding bullet. Wishing you all a very happy New Year and all the best in 2011.

I'll be popping open a bottle of Detroit to celebrate this year!

If you’re celebrating on New Year’s Eve please be responsible and don’t drink and drive.

Weekend Roundup

1. Mittenfest V - Head to Ypsi for this annual four-day music festival that serves as a fundraiser for 826 Michigan. December 30-January 2.

2. Holiday Sleigh Rides and Hayrides - Over the hills and through the woods on a horse-drawn sleigh ride sounds like a perfect way to cap off the holiday season. Through January 2nd.

3. Printmaking Drop-In Workshop at the DIA - Learn the art of printmaking and create your own works of art. January 2nd.

4. Detroit Historical Museum - Whether you wander through the Streets of Old Detroit or check out the Metro Detroit Weddings exhibit, you'll always learn something new here. Free admission through January 2nd.

5. A Befefit for Operation: Kid Equip - Featuring music from Back Forty with Jam Samich, Billy Brandt & Sarana VerLin. Visual art will also be show plus live painting. December 30th.

6. Spike & Mike's Sick & Twisted Annimaton Festival - The annual adult-themed annimation fest hits the Magic Bag. Through January 1st.

Ring in the New Year

1. Rockin' the Eve in downtown Royal Oak.

2. Motor City New Year's Eve "The Drop" outside the Compuware Atrium in downtown Detroit.

3. The Mega 80's (The Ultimate New Year's Eve Bash) at the Magic Bag.

4. New Year's Eve at the Fowling Funhouse in Detroit. (I seriously have to check out this Fowling thing!)

5. "Rock the Boat" New Year's Eve Cruise on the Detroit River.

Do you know of a great event going on in Metro Detroit this weekend? Add it to the comments and share it with us!

Top 10 Detroit Videos of 2010

With YouTube exceeding 2 billion views a day, it shouldn't be a surprise that not only did video kill the radio star but it’s also more popular than the 3 major television networks combined.

These are my picks for the top Detroit videos of 2010. They aren't listed in any particular order.

1. Lemonade: Detroit Trailer from Erik Proulx. Help fund this documentary; become a producer for $1 a frame and get a credit on IMDB. I'm a producer, are you?

2. The MakeShift Detroit from Stephen McGhee. Learn more about these 4 entrepeneurs who moved to Detroit and are starting their own businesses. 

The MakeShift Detroit from Stephen McGee on Vimeo.

3. Six Minutes from Final Five Productions. Do you hate parking in Royal Oak? If so, you'll love this video.  

4. Pato Margetic - Detroit. The city makes a beautiful backdrop in this video.

Pato Margetic - Detroit (Co-Director/Producer/Photography) from Adrienne Williams on Vimeo.

5. My Home from Brandi K. This is the winning video from the "I Love Detroit" video contest.

6. Future Midwest Opening Video. This kicked off the popular conference held last Spring.

7. "Wally Bronner (Christmas Always)" by The Hard Lessons. The Detroit band plays homage to Wally Bronner and our own Christmas wonderland that is just a short drive up I-75.

8. Stephen Clark's #Backchannel. Learn how the Channel 7 anchor started engaging viewers on Twitter and the birth of the #backchannel community.

Stephen Clark's #Backchannel from Tim Davis on Vimeo.

9. Detroit Lives with Johnny Knoxville for Palladium Boots.

10. blog 'n the D from Fafoutee Films. This trailer features bloggers in Detroit. Disclaimer: I am in this video and know almost all of the people featured in it.

Which one is your favorite? Did I leave any off the list?

Life flashing before my eyes

Reflecting on the events of the past year is quite popular in late December. It’s an indicator of where we’ve been and where we are going. It has been just over two years since I arrived back in Detroit and I think I’m doing all right.

On Christmas day I finally had time to relax and trowel through the Internet, falling through rabbit holes and getting lost in my travels. It’s been forever since I had the time to do that! I happened upon Pummelvision through one of my favorite photography sites, Photojojo.

I allowed Pummelvision to access to my Flickr & YouTube accounts and let them do their magic. What I received was a pretty slick video that shows a glimpse of the last 7-ish years of my life.

From my first trip to the UK as a tourist to my honeymoon, renovating the house, The Boat Race in London, my moms visit, watching Frankie the Cat grow up all over again, the eventual move back to Detroit, working with Blight Busters, and Photowalks Detroit; it’s the story of my life shown through the pictures that I’ve taken.

Just a warning, Frankie the Cat is the star of the video. I’m pretty happy my beloved Ice Tree made the cut, though.

Take a peek at the last 7 years of my life.

I’m sure that my video is much more interesting to me than it is to you; it reminded me of things I had forgotten and made me all warm and fuzzy inside. But the real point of Pummelvision and its value is that it is YOUR story.

So, take it for a spin and see the story of your life. It works with photos from Flickr, Facebook, and Tumblr and with video from YouTube or Vimeo.

I kind of wish I would have just used my Detroit photos (you have options with Flickr accounts) but was delightfully surprised to see the story evolve from just a few days before I met my husband. And every time I watch the video it seems different, like different photos are highlighted.

Sometimes, the last picture in England is of a black cab outside our house and then we move to Detroit. Pretty cool!

I allowed access to my last 2500 photos and it did everything else, I had no hand in what was included or excluded. I’ll make another video once I upload more of my Detroit photos to Flickr; I’m way behind. Here is more information on Pummelvision from Tech Crunch. Oh, make sure you rotate your photos; my sideways photos bug me.

So, do you reflect on the last year before starting anew? How?

Detroit Moxie's Weekend Roundup

Happy holidays to you and yours from Detroit Moxie!

Weekend Roundup

1. Mayer Hawthorne - The Ann Arbor boy and soul man returns just in time for the holidays. December 23rd.

2. Fakes, Forgeries and Mysteries - Explore over 60 works of art and find out if they are the real deal or a fake. Open your own investigation in a hands-on lab. Through April 10th.

3. World of Dinosaurs: Land, Sea & Air - Head over to Cranbrook Institute of Science for the most comprehensive exhibit on Dinosaurs ever displayed in Metro Detroit. Through January 2nd, 2011.

4. Holiday Nights in Greenfield Village - Step into Christmas from the past at this popular holiday event. December 26-27th. 

5. The Hard Lessons - Their 5th Annual Holiday Show takes place at St. Andrew's Hall this year. December 26th.

Bonus: All Huron-Clinton Metroparks are offering free entry on Christmas Day.

Do you know of a great event going on in Metro Detroit this weekend? Add it to the comments and share it with us!

On winning and losing

As most of you know, I entered a contest to become the Good Mood Blogger. I didn’t win. And, before the pity parties begin and you start sending me mentions and DM’s on Twitter saying how sorry you are or how the company screwed up, don’t.

This ‘winning a blogging job’ was a crapshoot; it was like winning the lottery. Who expects to win the lottery? Not me. If I told you that I bought lotto tickets for the Mega Millions or Powerball and I didn’t win, would you tell me that you're sorry? Doubtful.

I’m not being stoic. I’m just doing what I do, you try some things and sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. And then you move on and try something different. Most importantly, you try again.

Much of what I do on Detroit Moxie isn’t seen; it’s not in the blog posts or in the public timeline. Emails, private messages, and DM’s are where much of the underbelly work of Detroit Moxie happens.

Last night, my friend Mark sent me an email from Japan. Yes, through the power of this blog and Twitter I have become friends with someone who lives in Japan and I cherish that. He was featured in a blog post not long ago.

Anyway, I received the email from him with a few other people carbon copied on it but with no specific requests. What I gathered was that someone from Japan was going to be in Detroit and was looking for ideas on what to do while here. I gave a few suggestions and asked for further information so I could be of more assistance.

Then I got this message that Mark had sent back to his friend:

Becks here, is the best guide ever to the Motor City. I wish I would have known her when I was living there. You are lucky.

Yeah. Good stuff. Heart-soaring stuff. This is why I do what I do. Those words put everything in perspective.

Mark, for the record, I’m the lucky one.

I didn’t win a blogging job; I have a blogging job. It may not pay cash money but it pays dividends to my soul.

Thank you all for your support throughout this contest. You guys are amazing! I do what I do because I love Detroit. This blog has brought me many opportunities and I’ve met some pretty fantastic people.

Now I’m off to go buy a lottery ticket.